City Overrun
by VampireQueen21
Summary: NickLiz XO with Forsaken and JC Vampires. In Roswell 10 people have turned up missing. Nick and Sean think it’s a Forsaken gathering an army. Jack Crow and his new team Liz is his second in command think it’s a Master. Nick, Sean, and the Slayers arrive i
1. Prologue

Title: City Overrun

Author: Jezebel Jinx/Dez/VampireQueen21

Rating: Mature (language and violence)

Category: X-over with Forsaken + John Carpenters 'Vampires'; with some BTVS and Blade x-overs. But Forsaken and Vampires are the main crossover.

Couples: Nick/Liz, Tess/Sean (Forsaken), Kyle, Alex?

Summary: In Roswell 10 people have turned up missing. Nick and Sean think it's a Forsaken gathering an army. Jack Crow and his new team (Liz is his second in command) think it's a Master. Nick, Sean, and the Slayers arrive in Roswell to take care of the vampire problem.

Notes: Alex is not dead, Tess is now Liz's friend, and Kyle keeps in touch with Liz, the rest of the group had turned their back on Liz after what happened with Future Max. You'll find out more about Liz leaving Roswell in either flashbacks or during the reunion between Liz and the group.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, however I think it would be nice to own Michael and Rath for a couple of days, but alas no luck in that area except in my fantasies.

**Lingo;** Cocktails: drug to slow infection (used in Forsaken), Goon: lower-level vampire (used in JCV), Feeder: Nearly turned vampire (used in Forsaken)

_Prologue:_

**Denver, Colorado; Thursday, 6 A.M**

Sitting at the table in the hotel room Sean glances through the third newspaper of the morning searching for anything that might remotely look like a Forsaken killing. Nick slams into the room carrying two cups of coffee, he sets one down in front of Sean and takes the seat across from him.

"Anything in the papers?" Nick sips at his steaming coffee and reaches into his travel bag grabbing the bottle full of the cocktails. He opens the container and shakes out the different pills onto the table.

"Quietness is not your strong suit is it?" Sean smirks and continues to browse through the paper.

Nick ignores his friend. "Is there anything or not?" He pops the pills into his mouth drowning them with his coffee, finally swallowing them.

"There's been about ten disappearances in Roswell, New Mexico in the past month, the police have no leads. All the people were in their late teens early twenties." Sean circles the report and continues his search but finds nothing else. "Alright so we have one in Roswell and one in San Diego." Sean tells him.

Nick thinks about it for a moment. "What's the situation in San Diego?" While his instincts are telling him to go Roswell he needs to know what's going on in San Diego to make a good and smart decision.

Sean reaches for the first paper that he had checked out that morning. "Umm, three people dead, two missing and a string of attacks every couple of days." He flings the paper back on the table and glances at Nick. "Which one do you think?"

"Well, the one in Roswell is closer and also since nobody's turned up dead just missing I'd say that maybe if it is a Forsaken it might be building an army and that's something I think needs to be taken care of first. If too many are turned we won't stand a chance at stopping them." Nick taps his fingers against the table the only sign that he gave of his frustration on the matter.

Sean doesn't say a word he just nods agreeing with Nick. They grab their previously packed bags and load them into the Charger that they had taken from the last Forsaken they had killed, and head for Roswell.

**Santé Fe, New Mexico; 12 hours later; Thursday, 6 P.M. **

"Got a cigarette Jack?" The brunette next to him asks.

"Yea," he reaches into his beaten leather jacket pocket and pulls out an almost empty pack tossing it on her lap.

"Thanks." She pulls a cigarette out putting it in her mouth lighting it with a match. She sucks in the nicotine; it automatically calms her frazzled nerves.

"That's your third cigarette in fifteen minutes—" Jack glances at his young charge that in the short time he's known her has come to think of as a daughter, "wanna tell me what's up?" She doesn't reply she just stares silently out the window and continues taking long drags from his second to last cigarette.

Not being able to take Liz's silence anymore he lashes out. "Fuck it!" Jack yells out. He slams on the brakes causing the two other trucks filled with their other team members to stop dead in their tracks.

"What are you doing Jack?" The brown haired teen demands. She twists her body around facing him.

"You are going to tell me what's going on Liz and your going to tell me right fucking now." Jack seethes in anger at the small young woman, who flicks at her cigarette causing the ash to fly out the window and onto the dry desert ground.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm fine." Liz denies softly. She should have known Jack wouldn't believe her, he seems to know her better than she knows herself sometimes, but she was holding out some hope that he would let the matter be...he didn't.

"That's fucking bullshit Liz and you know it. Now fucking tell me because you're no good to me in this god damn crazy state of yours." He growls back in frustration. Jack has been training her long enough to know her expressions and gestures.

A raspy, crackily voice interrupts Jack's tirade. "What's goin' on boss? Liz sense something around here?"

Jack sighs in frustration. "Nah," he speaks into the CB Radio, "I'm just havin' a talk with Liz. We'll be goin' soon." He throws the speaker down and continues his angry stare at his young charge.

"I'm scared to go back to Roswell." Liz speaks low, almost to low for Jack to hear…but he does. "I've been bitten by a vampire, I've come near death on more than one damned occasion," she takes a slow drag out of the still burning cigarette. Liz breathes out the smoke; it filters through her mouth and nose.

"God and I fight vampires on a daily fucking basis and hardly bat an eyelash. But the idea of seeing the people who turned their back on me when I needed them the most terrifies me." Her jaw tightens in anger for not being as strong as she thinks Jack would be.

Nodding he starts the armored truck filled with their weapons back up and they continue on the way to Roswell. "But I thought you kept in touch with three of your friends?"

"Yea but…" Liz takes a final drag and flicks the cigarette out the window. "I guess it doesn't make much sense does it?" She chuckles low in her throat.

"It makes perfect sense, you're remembering how you thought you were in Roswell. You think of yourself as weak back then and now that you're going back you're reverting back to that old state of mind. That you are a frightened teenager who hasn't been kicking vampire's fucking asses for 5 months." Jack tells her in total confidence.

"Still a teenager though." Liz distractedly replies.

"True but you're not frightened. Besides if any of them get on your last nerve you can just kick their fuckin' ass." He winks at her and smirks his trademark Jack Crow smirk.

**Roswell, New Mexico; 1 hour later; Thursday, 7 p.m.**

"So she's coming back?" Tess questions Alex whose sitting on his bed strumming on his guitar.

"That's what she told me when she called 10 minutes ago. She probably won't be hanging out with us to much though" Alex regrettably tells Tess. Shortly after the Future Max incident Liz and Tess had begun to become friends and now they're closer than Maria and Liz used to be and Tess and Liz have had a long distance friendship.

"It's going to be a stop, kill, and leave then huh?"

"That's what it sounds like. She might be able to visit for a day or so but then she has to continue with her team. Not to mention she doesn't want to be around the others for to damn long, she's afraid that we'd be burying some of them before she left." Alex chuckles loudly.

"This is definitely going to be an interesting reunion." Tess smiles. Max, Michael, Maria, and Isabel have no clue what Liz has been up to all these months. It's not that they haven't been curious but they know nothing, because Alex wouldn't tell them and they didn't know Tess was in contact with Liz. The Parker's wouldn't even tell them anything, all they told the group was that Liz didn't want any one to know. Tess laughs silently at the chaos that will no doubt ensue when Liz comes back.

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1 _

**Roswell, Friday, 6:17 P.M. **

"Did you hear?" Maria plants herself in the normal booth of the 'I know an alien' club, which since Liz's departure had slowly dwindled to Michael, Max, Isabel, and Maria. The expression on Maria's face was one of non-measurable delight as she waits for the others at the table to ask her about what she heard.

Swigging a gulp of her cherry cola with Tabasco, Isabel rolls her eyes annoyance and takes the bait. "What did you hear Maria?"

"Pam Troy has been one of latest people to turn up missing. The cops are saying it's related to the other missing persons cases that are on their desks." She steals a fry from Michael's plate shoving it down her gullet.

"And that's good news how?" Michael questions his girlfriend, irritated that she took some of his food without at least asking first.

"Now I won't have to listen to her brag about how many guys she's cock-teased over the weekend. You have to know that she's lying about that…who would want anything to do with that skank?" Maria chuckles.

"Who knows, maybe we should ask Kyle. After all he slept with Liz, she's no better than Pam Troy." Max vehemently seethes out. He's still in shock over what Liz did to him, he saved her life and she repays him by sleeping with Kyle. What kind of person does that…he'll tell you whom, a slut.

The bell above the Crashdown doors rings causing the group a momentary distraction. They see its Tess and Kyle; Max makes a move like he's going to stand up but Isabel places a hand on his forearm halting any upward movement.

Maria rises instead and walks over to them. "You're not allowed here? So turn around and leave." While granted Mr. Parker hasn't said that Tess and Kyle weren't to be let in, Maria has decided to take it into her own hands.

"Well, Maria, this is a public restaurant, and Jeff hasn't said a word to us about being banned from it, so until we get the word from Jeff we're not leaving." Tess speaks down to her and continues on her way with Kyle toward the booth behind the Pod Squad. They want a front row seat for when Liz arrives. She called earlier this morning telling them that she would be there at about 6:30. So now all they had to do was wait for the fun to begin.

Leaning in close to Tess, Kyle asks her a question. "When's Alex getting here? I know he doesn't want to miss this."

"He said that he'd be here a little before 6:30, he has some things he has to take care of first." Tess explains.

"Well, it's almost 6:30, he better be coming soon or he'll miss the four of them having heart attacks." Kyle chuckles and waits for Liz to arrive.

**Outskirts of Roswell; 6:20 P.M. **

"Jack hold up a sec." Liz says to her mentor and leader. The armored truck slows to a stop and turns her head toward Jack. "There's a nest, in that shack." Her sides cramp painfully at the closeness of the Goons. That's the down side to being bitten but not turned, when there's a single Goon or even a Master near she has small twinges of pain, not enough to take a real notice of but she can feel them. But when it's a nest it's an all out pain-fest that lasts about five minutes so she gets the message that Goons are in the vicinity.

"All right, you stay here and the guys and I will take care of it." Jack tells her, opening the truck door. He still feels guilt over what happened the last time that she went with them. He should have known better, it's his fault Liz got hurt last time.

"What? No, I'm going in." Liz argues. There is no way she is letting Jack go in there without her.

Jack sighs out in frustration and glances at Liz, she sweating from the amount of pain that her Goon radar is causing. That means there's more in there the standard 7-10 Goons. His team would need all the help they could get and Liz was really good at taking the creatures out.

"Are you sure you're up for it? Not only are you nervous about your friends, your hurting more than normal, and you just got out of the hospital two days ago." Jack questions concerned that if Liz comes in with them she'll put herself and the team in unneeded danger.

"Don't look at me like that." Liz clenches out through her teeth.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm going to do more trouble than good. It's bullshit and you know it. I can put my emotions and physical pain aside to deal with what has to be done. Besides you heard the doctors I'm one-hundred percent better." Liz seethes angry that Jack could doubt her. "Now I'm going…I can take care of myself." Her voice and expression gives Jack no choice but to agree to have her come in the shack and take out Goons.

"All right. But we have to deal with this fast. Sunset is at eight." Jack slams the door to the armored truck stomping over to the van and SUV that have stopped behind them.

"Ok, Liz's radar has kicked in and she tells me that there are a nest of Goons squatting in that shit shack up there. This is going to be fast and brutal, there are more than normal in this hellhole but nothing we can't handle. Suit up." He orders as he watches Liz step out of the armored truck her face devoid of any emotion. Jack shouldn't have doubted her. She's always been able to push her feelings to the back burner and deal with the problem at hand.

Liz watches as the team suits up in neck protectors, leather gloves, and leather jackets. Her and Jack were the only two that don't wear the protective gear, Jack because he's a cocky son-of-a-bitch, Liz because she didn't need it. After getting bit she was immune to vampire bites and didn't need all that extra bulk slowing her down. They pull out various types of weaponry that are great at taking down Goons and Masters.

Gary saunters over to Liz; "Do you know if these are the Goons that are terrorizing your old city?" He questions wanting to know, because if it is than they can relax on the days that they're here.

"I don't know. Doesn't feel like it though. I think we got more than one set of Goons taking up shop around here." Liz informs Gary, her voice shaking slightly, but she covers it quickly by coughing.

"Damn, I was hoping to get some tail on this trip." He shakes his head and walks back over to the rest of the team.

"You might still get that tail you want. There's a girl named Pam Troy, she's really easy…but I'd be careful about diseases." Liz smiles to herself, then grins wide at Gary whose almost like a brother to her as he puts his neck guard on. There's nothing better than slaying Goons.

**Roswell; 6:45 p.m.**

"Where is she? She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago." Alex furiously whispers to Kyle and Tess. He's worried about her; Liz has always been punctual. "Do you think that she ran into some of the Goons?"

"It's definitely possible. That is the main reason why Liz is coming back." Tess speaks louder than she intended to and the group in the next booth overhears it, she cringes as she waits for the shit to hit the fan.

"WHAT?" Max turns, "Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Liz is coming back to Roswell." The three teens nod. "And all of you have been keeping in touch with her?" Again they nod. "How come you never said anything?"

"Because El Presidente it wasn't any of your business. It was up to Liz who she wanted to know, and it wasn't any of you." Kyle finishes his cola and shakes his head in disbelief at the others audacity. How can they think that Liz would want them to know anything about what she was doing now?

Jeff treks out of the back room after just receiving a phone call from Liz saying that she was on her way back, she and the team had run into some Goons but it was taken care of. He walks over to Kyle, Alex and Tess's table not paying attention to Max's freak out in the least.

"I just heard from Liz, she had to take care of…" he finally glances over at the other groups table, they're listening to his every word, "some business with the team and should be here in 10 minutes."

"Is she alright?" Kyle questions, the last time she went up against some Goons she was beaten fairly badly. The team had gone to check out the basement, since that's where Goons normally hide while their squatting in a home. While they went downstairs, Liz had stayed upstairs, keeping an eye out for stragglers.

Her mentor Jack Crow had been reckless that day, he hadn't sent a team to the second to check if there were any Goons upstairs…there were five. They had crashed through the ceiling and beat Liz up when she was too weak to fight back they bit into her and started to drink. Luckily Jack felt something was off and went back upstairs with three members of the team.

It's taken almost a week for Liz to fully recover. That wasn't the first time she had been bitten though…the first time was right before she became a part of Jack Crow's team…if it had been the first time she probably would have become the very thing she hunted.

Jeff speaking brought Kyle out of his memory of Liz's last letter telling him what had happened. "She's alright. A little bruised and has a large cut on her cheek, but nothing like the last time."

"Thank Buddha." Kyle breathes a sigh of relief.

"I'm going to go put their orders in, their going to want some food when they come back, and your orders should be up soon." Jeff turns and going back to the kitchen and places Liz and the teams orders so it will be ready by the time they walk in.

Alex begins to nervously tap on the table. "Why does she put herself in danger like that…" he shakes his head in disbelief.

"What's going on?" Maria whispers loudly, trying not to draw attention from the other patrons of the restaurant.

"None of your business Maria. It's between family…and that doesn't include you." Tess spitefully tells her.

"Well, we're family so we should know." Max practically yells at her drawing stares toward the two tables.

"I don't consider you my family Max. None of you." While Kyle, Alex, Liz, and Jeff Parker aren't her blood kin, she considers them her family more than she considers the aliens her family.

**5 miles outside of Roswell; 6:55 P.M.**

Nick sits semi-patiently in his seat glances at the map in his lap and the information that he printed off about Roswell when they stopped at the library. He turns to Sean who has been driving for 5 hours. "Well, I see a total of 2 cemeteries in this town, they're fairly close together."

"Good, we won't have to go very far to kill the Forsaken then. Is there a hotel near one of em'?" Sean turns to the left, driving them closer to the town.

"Yea, there's one about 3 blocks away from one cemetery and then one 6 blocks away from the other one. I think I know which one we should crash in."

"K, when we get into town direct me. Then direct me to the nearest diner. I'm starving." Sean's stomach grumbles it's agreement.

"No kidding." Nick smirks. He reads through the diner list that he printed reading what has the cheaper prices and is close to the hotel they decided on. "The Crashdown Café looks likes a good choice. Not expensive and within 5 blocks of the hotel."

"Works for me." Sean agrees as he continues to drive.

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

**Crashdown**

Jeff Parker just cleared a large booth on the other side of his restaurant when loud mostly male voices came cheering from outside. Standing up straight he smiles in anticipation, he hasn't seen his daughter for 6 months and he missed her.

When Liz had come to him and Nancy requesting to be sent away to Florida…again, he was shocked. He thought she had gotten back together with that Max Evans boy, although he never liked him…always watching his daughter while she working and rarely ever leaving until she gets ready to close. He tolerated Evans behavior since Liz seemed to not mind the attention.

So when she wanted to leave Roswell it caught him off guard. It had been a busy day in the Crash; Liz had stayed home from school for the past few days faking sick. Jeff knew she wasn't sick but something was wrong with his daughter so he didn't call her on her lie.

Out she had walked from the back room, her face was blank, he had stolen a glance at a few of her friend's usual table…they were either ignoring her completely or glaring daggers at her. Liz hadn't spared them a single look. Instead she walked straight towards him her jaw set in determination.

When she finally reached him she said three words. "Can we talk?"

He hadn't said a word just nodded whatever she had to tell him…he wouldn't like it. They walked into the backroom and into his office. There she told him everything, her really getting shot in the Crashdown, Max healing her, Michael, Isabel, Tess, and Max being aliens…all up to the most recent event. The event that made Liz make certain choices, Future Max coming to Roswell telling her she had to save the world by making Max fall out of love with her, and her pretending to sleep with Kyle.

Now he had seen some pretty strange things himself…so it wasn't that far of a stretch to believe what his daughter told him. That was when she told him that she wanted to leave, not forever just for a while.

Jeff had asked the obvious questions about whether or not Kyle needed to be killed for being in the same bed as his daughter and about school to which she replied that Kyle didn't need to be killed and that she had called the school three days ago.

She already had enough credits to graduate so the school was going to mail Liz her diploma, as of now she doesn't go to West Roswell anymore. While Liz's expression was blank as she was telling him this, her eyes were something different. Jeff could see all the anguish she felt at losing her first love, the anger at the friends who turned their backs when she needed them the most, but also some relief at leaving Roswell behind to start anew.

Not really seeing any choice but to let her go he reluctantly agreed. Before the next week started Liz was gone already in Florida. Besides him and Nancy the only people who knew where Liz went were the three who reached out to her. Assuring her of their loyalty, knowing that she wouldn't have done what she did unless she had too.

Since then Liz had been sort of forced into another world of strangeness. The world that Jeff thought he left behind when he took his family to Roswell so they wouldn't have to be in constant danger from the vampires. But he should have known that no place was completely safe.

Now people are disappearing left and right, he knows they're one of three things, dead, turned, or almost one of those two. Vampires sometimes like to make their victims think they're going to live then right when that final flicker of hope enters their eyes they destroy it by sucking them dry slowly so they can savor the fear.

Liz had been bitten by a vampire, which was how she got involved with the vampire hunters, luckily for her a team of vampire hunters had been hunting that particular creature for over a week. The vampire hadn't taken enough blood to turn her but just enough to make her different. She was taken to Monterey where she learned how to fight, how to identify a vampire…while there she found out that there wasn't just one kind of vampire, there were many kinds of vampires.

A deep laugh brings Jeff back to the present, just in time to see the door being held open and Liz riding on the back of Barry smiling and yelling with joy. Jeff can't remember seeing Liz that happy in a long time and his heart warms that something has made her smile.

Followed closely behind Liz and Barry were the rest of the team, Jack Crow the leader, Seth the weapons expert, Gary and Robert the twin terrors, Lance the ladies man and expert fighter, and lastly Father Adam, who is both a hunter and there for the religious members of the team.

Jack notices Liz's father. Jeff had been a part of his team at one time, but when he hit 27 the now restaurant owner wanted to start a family and left the team. "Jeffrey Parker, great to see you again. How long has it been?"

"Almost 20 years." Jeff smiles and laughs embracing his former leader. It was odd having his daughter follow his footsteps and joining Jack's vampire hunter team. If he had a choice in the matter he would have wanted his past and Liz's present to stay as far away from each other as possible but that wasn't meant to be.

Liz while in Florida she had been attacked by vampires, she had been bitten and some of her blood had been taken. Either the vampire was an idiot, which was entirely possible, or he didn't have time to finish turning Liz, but whatever the reason not enough blood was taken to change her into a Goon. However that didn't mean some things didn't change.

Now she was faster than humans, her hearing and eye sight were far better, her reflexes were astonishing, and she acquired some of the acrobatics that vampires pick up over the years. The most helpful change was her gut instinct…literally. When a Goon or Master was near Liz would get a sharp burning pain deep in her stomach, the warning system aided the team and kept them safer.

Jumping down from her spot on Barry's back, Liz rushes toward her father hugging him tightly, missing him immensely. She breathes in his scent, grease, musty office, and ocean breeze aftershave, he smells like home. "I missed you Daddy." Liz whispers finally letting him go staring into his eyes.

"I missed you too sweetie." Jeff glances toward her cheek; her cut didn't look as bad as Liz described it, could that be another side effects to her being bitten all those months ago? "We need to get that cleaned up." Gently he caresses the skin around her cheek.

"I'm ok Dad really, it's already healing. It'll be fine in a day." The guy's smile at Liz embracing her father, they know how much she's missed him. Even though Jack had filled the role of 'father-figure' well enough nothing could compare to the real thing.

"Go sit with your friends and I'll bring out the pounds of food I know you're starving for." He presses another kiss to her cheek and squeezes her shoulder in a comforting gesture and walks back into the kitchen.

Turning back to group of guys quickly filling the large booth she turns and sees her three friends, Alex, Kyle and Tess all rise from their booth and crowd her giving her hugs and telling her they missed her. While she missed them too she still felt a pang that one more person wasn't on the welcome home wagon. Before she left Roswell, after the whole Future Max thing she tried to tell Maria about what happened, begged Maria to understand why she had been pulling away from everybody including her.

Unfortunately Maria would have none of it and wouldn't except her apology for basically ignoring her for weeks. She even attempted one last time to mend the fences with her while she was on the road with Jack learning how to become a Slayer but Maria sent a letter back to the hotel she was staying at telling her to never contact her again. Liz respected her ex-friend's wishes and never tried to explain again after that.

"I missed you three too. Come on, sit at the booth with us, grab your food and park your butts over with us." She smiles and makes her way back to the booth filled with the men she's come to think of as her family.

Within moments Tess, Alex, and Kyle are piled into the booth while Liz makes introductions. Across the restaurant Maria, Michael, Max, and Isabel are staring at how different Liz looks from when she left their small town.

Liz's clothes were the major difference, she's wearing tight stonewash blue jeans that showed off her shapely ass, a tight skimpy red tank top that says 'I Bite' in black and silver letters, black Doc Martins, and a dark brown leather jacket. Her hair which used to be long and boring was now cut shoulder length in a hip new style that Isabel herself had wanted to try, and her hair was dyed a few shades darker till it looked almost black. The only way you could tell it was still brown was when the light hit it just right.

Obviously feeling the heat of the small Café, Liz takes off the leather jacket and the group can see an armband tattoo that looks like barbed wire, and a scar that runs from her collar bone to a little above her elbow. Liz's body was toned and tight, whatever she had been doing out of Roswell agreed with her because she looks ten times better then before.

Liz and the group of men she came in with let a loud 'whoop' when their food arrives. Eight double cheeseburgers, two mountains of french fries, two pitchers of soft drinks, and two pitchers of beer.

"So Liz? Are you going to stay in Roswell?" Alex questions hoping for a yes, but not entirely sure he'll get one. After all Liz has made a life for herself, one that he can tell, from the many letters she sent him, that in a way she loved.

Swallowing the piece of cheeseburger in her mouth she stares directly into Alex's eyes, being completely honest with him. "I don't know. A part of me wants to stay here, maybe take a break from the Goon killing, but the other part of me loves what we do and doesn't want to leave."

Liz pops a fry into her mouth. "That's partly the reason why I came back, not just to stop whatever's going on in this town although that is the main reason, but to help me decide where I wanna go. And I can't do that if I don't spend time here, because if I stayed away I know what I'd choose, hunting Goons. But I have to face some stuff here first before I make that decision."

Jack leans forward so as not to have the entire Café listening in. "You know Liz, we can make it without you, I admit it will be fuckin' difficult but we'd be able to manage if you wanted to take a break for a while."

"I know you guys would be fine, it's not even a question of that, I just want to be sure for myself. I don't want to look back and say dammit I wish I did that instead of doing this. This decision is something that needs careful consideration not fly by the seat of my pants." Liz tells him taking another bite of her cheeseburger.

Seeing the diner guests thinning out Jeff makes the executive decision of closing his establishment early. It won't put him in the poor house to turn a few families away tonight; he had the feeling the guys and Liz needed to let loose something they wouldn't do in front of crowd. It wasn't because they would be embarrassed, that wasn't even close but because they wouldn't want his customers to not come back.

Jeff remembers the days of being a vampire slayer; you'd kill Goons during the day and then get your choice of booze and whores after a hard day. At the time it was the life, he wasn't naïve to believe that his daughter was still a virgin, knowing the life vampire slayers lead it was wishful thinking to think that let alone believe it. But he did hope she gave her innocence away to someone she wanted too not a local male escort.

As he makes his way to each table explaining the situation of needing to get ready for a private party, he takes a discrete glance at the group of three aliens and one human. They haven't taken their beady little eyes off his daughter and her friends since they entered the Café.

Jeff walks toward the smaller booth, "It's time for the four of you to go, Liz and her friends are going to be conducting a party to which you four are not invited. Maria, Michael don't worry about coming in tomorrow either I'm not going to be opening the restaurant Saturday."

Liz takes a peek at the shocked group her father is speaking too. A part of her wants them to leave so she can spend some non-worry time with her friends and family, her mother was supposed to be back that night she could hardly wait to see her. However a rather large part wouldn't mind if they stayed for the reunion wanting to rub their noses in the fact that she was happy with her slayer family and didn't need them. But that would only prove to them that she cared what they thought of her and she didn't, not anymore.

"But we're still eating Mr. Parker." Isabel puts on her innocent smile that always gets her what she wants, except this time. Jeff Parker has had his fair share of women smile their pretty grins up at him and it doesn't work in the least on him. The only woman that had that power over him was his daughter, for her he would do anything.

"Nope, sorry Miss Evans, I would like you all to leave now. You can have a free lunch or dinner within a week of this date but you have to go now." Jeff's firm but still polite. He stands back a bit to let the group of four rise from their seats and watches as the reluctantly shrug trudge out of the Café. Locking the door behind them he turns toward his friends, daughter, and his daughter's friends letting a loud 'Whoo!' telling them the party can start.

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Liz, Jack and the other's follow his cry with a joined one of their own. Tess raises her hand and turns on the radio the music pumping through the diner, luckily Jack and the team knew about her alien status so she didn't have to hide anything from them.

Tess rises from her chair and pulls Liz up while she's still eating her burger. "Come on Liz, its time to shake our asses." She bounces up and down giddy, a side she's only shown Kyle, Alex, and Liz, the guys of Liz's crew stare with delight as her breast jump up and down along with the blonde pixie.

"But food…" The rest of her sentence is cut off as Tess grabs her cheeseburger and puts it back onto the plate dragging Liz out of the booth ignoring her protests.

"You can eat any old time, it's time to cut loose." Swallowing her bite of food Liz does what Tess tells her to and lets loose. Her friends watch as Liz and Tess wrap their arms around each other moving their bodies together naturally.

Kyle coughs on his fries as he watches them dance, no dance was too tame of a word, more like dry humping each other to the beat. "That's hot." He takes a drink of his Coke chugging almost the entire beverage trying to cool his body down but it wasn't working.

"Damn right it is." Lance whispers to them, "You should see Liz when it's just us guys, one night…" He's about to continue but he notices Jeff standing off to the side of the booth glaring at him and wisely shuts his mouth not wanting to get on an ex-Slayer's bad side.

Jack pulls a cigar out of his jacket, lighting it with his Zippo eyeing the blonde pixie dancing with Liz. He wouldn't mind taking a ride on the express train for a night or more, Jack grins as Liz laughs at something Tess whispered in her ear. Nah, he may want to try out the beautiful teen but she is Liz's friend, he's scum and a sleaze, there's no disputing that but even he won't sleep with Liz's friend.

The song ended and Liz and Tess make it back to the table where Liz immediately starts scarfing down her cheeseburger again. She was so hungry, after a slaying her appetite went wild and needed to be satisfied with lots of fattening foods.

From outside the sound of a car door shutting could faintly be heard from inside but it still being relatively early no one paid that much attention to it. Kyle went back to chatting with Seth talking about various types of weapons that are used to slay Goons. Only seconds later there was a heavy rattling of the front doors, being jumpy after the recent fight all Slayers drew their guns ready to blast whatever creature is out there.

Jeff glances out the door windows, standing there was a young man with dark short hair, and a few cuts and bruises. "Put the guns away it's just a customer." The ex-Slayer understands their twitchy minds and bodies, when you're a Slayer you never know if the person on the other side of the door is normal or looking to tear your throat.

**Outside the Crashdown; 7:10 p.m.**

Nick continues to read the _Roswell Times_, checking for any more information on the recent disappearances in this small town. "I'll meet ya inside in a second, I'm almost done reading this article." He tells Sean distractedly circling another missing person's report, this time a 'Pamela Troy'. Damn she looks like a cheap hooker.

"Alright." Sean sighs opening the driver's side door, the creek grinding on his last nerve. There wasn't anything he could do about it though, the Charger is the only car they have available to them, and as irritating as all the creeks and groans are he couldn't turn down a working car. Besides keeping the car that was owned (stolen) by the Forsaken he and Nick took out brought a sense of pride to him.

Reaching the front of the Crashdown Sean goes to open one of double doors but it's locked making a loud rattle, unbeknownst to him inside the restaurant eight handguns were drawn and pointed at the door. Sean hears some muffled voices through the doors and a moment later an older man comes to the door. His hair is slightly greasy along with his apron, and his blue buttoned down shirt was marked with a little bit of sweat.

"Sorry, we closed early this evening. We're also going to be closed tomorrow but the day after that we'll be open." Jeff explains, his heart racing slightly after the multiple gun draws.

"Oh, ok. Thanks." Sean smiles and goes back to the car just as Nick was easing out of the car.

"Hey man, what's up?" Curious as to why his friend is coming back. They had recently won a few hundred dollars gambling with some of the locals in the last town. He and Sean had been living off Cup-o-Soup for a month; he wanted to eat out.

Sean shrugs his shoulders, "They're not open tonight or tomorrow, couldn't see inside cuz of the blinds being drawn but seemed like there might have been a party going on." He opens the drivers side door, both guys getting into their car, taking off down the main road with a roar going to their hotel to stay for how ever long they'd be there.

**Crashdown Parking Lot; 7:12 p.m.**

"Can you believe that, Jeff just kicked us out. He's never done that before." Maria whines. Before she could continue her complaints there's a roar of a car engine and the car producing the awful noise blazes passed the Crashdown. "Rude." She shouts at the disappearing car.

Isabel rolls her eyes, when Liz first left she had to admit that she sided with her bother, who else would she side with, Liz was related to her, Isabel and her weren't best friends, Max was the only one to side with. However as time went on and Max seemed to lose touch with reality week after week she began to wonder if everything was as it seemed involving the brunette that once dated her brother.

The tall blonde alien hybrid hasn't managed to gather up the courage yet to speak to Kyle or Liz, after Liz left Max became verbally abusive to the only three people who stayed around him, her, Michael, and Maria.

Before Max had changed it would have been easy to go up to Kyle and ask him a simple question, to get her suspicions of what transpired between him and Liz confirmed. But now she almost broke out into hives thinking about confronting someone. Now ever without talking to Kyle or anybody else she has a fairly good idea about what happened, Alex about two months ago mentioned a Future Max but clamed up immediately after the name was spoken.

From what she gathered from many conversations she eavesdropped on Liz and Kyle had never slept together, it was all a ruse to get Max to fall out of love with her. Apparently Kyle was a part of that plan, it worked really well, but whatever sanity Max had quickly ran away once Liz moved away from Roswell.

A large portion of her wished she could blame Liz for making her brother mentally unstable, but logically she knew it isn't Liz's responsibility to keep Max sane. He had to do that on his own. "Maria who cares if he kicked us out, it's his restaurant and Liz is his daughter. It's not rocket science." She shakes her head and leaves the other three in the parking lot; she wants to walk home tonight.

Isabel's heels click against the sidewalk, the hot air whips passed her blowing her long hair behind her. She stares over at the sinking sun, goodbye afternoon, hello evening. Strolling through the small town always calmed her down, settled her nerves, and today was no different. Suddenly everything fell into place, her mind was jumbled but the air, the scents, and the sights cleared her brain of any doubts or concerns she had.

She, Isabel Amanda Evans, needed to get away from her brother.

Not physically necessarily but emotionally, mentally, he is only hindering her. But could she just cut off from her brother? Yes, she would have too. It was the best thing for her and even for Max. Speaking to Alex, Tess, Kyle, and Liz also is a huge priority; she doesn't expect them to be friends with her again but maybe acquaintances.

So deep in her own thoughts and musing she fails to hear the fast footfalls behind her and to the side of her. Isabel doesn't notice till two raggedly dressed, foaming at the mouth with black liquid, fang filled mouth's creatures jumped in front of her.

"Ahh!" On instinct Isabel raised her arm and used her powers on the two creatures in front of her, immediately they rise off the ground and are thrown back. Breathing hard she turns and runs, she runs back to where someone might be able to help her. The Crashdown Café.

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_Crashdown Café; 7:17 p.m._

Liz finishes the last bite of her cheeseburger washing it down with a swig of beer. "So Liz, you're kicking vampire butt, got a whole new look, and are enjoying a nice foamy beer. Anything else that's changed that we should know about?" Kyle questions. He's got to admit all these changes are hot and if he weren't dating a girl from school he'd be thinking of a way to get her into his bed…again…for real.

"Yeah," she shoves a fry in her mouth, "I'm no longer a virgin and I smoke." Takes another drink of beer. "Which reminds me I gotta buy another pack. I ran out on the way here."

Tess glances around the Crashdown; Jeff's off fixing more food and the music is playing loudly enough. She doesn't want to ask this question if Jeff can hear, "Who'd you lose it too?"

"The first few times I had sex it was with Jack." Liz points a pinky at him. She had just joined up with the gang and after her first kill she was wired. Jack kept the other guys away from her all night. According to him he wasn't going to do anything with her but she was persistent.

"And Liz is such a screamer." Lance teases, earning him combined glares from his leader and Liz. While Liz's glare has a hint of a smirk, Jack's is pure anger. Lance knows when to shut up and now is one of those times.

Jack, as her first sexual encounter was a damn good choice. He told her afterwards that at the very least he wanted her first time to be good and it definitely was. For the next two weeks he taught her some of what he knew. The other members of the team wondered if she would be the woman to tame their wild leader. After those first two weeks they figured out she wouldn't be the one to settle him down, and she didn't want to be.

Tess switches her gaze between her friend and her friends mentor. Jack isn't classically handsome; he almost has a used car-salesmen quality that on another man would make her feel like she needed a shower to wash off the slime. But the edge he has masks the slime potential. His face is scarred, no doubt from hunting a good portion of his life, and hard. Tess is sure he can make the most hardened criminals shiver in fear with only a frown.

The blonde wondered what Jeff would do if he found out his baby slept with his buddy. While it's doubtful he believes Liz is still a virgin, to know she lost it to a guy close to his own age would be too much for him to handle. Tess pours herself a glass of coke and doesn't say a word, she only nods and moves onto a different subject.

Liz is thankful Tess didn't say anything more about her time with Jack. She isn't ashamed of what they'd done together but not being ashamed and telling her father are two different things entirely. Her mentor isn't exactly the kind of man Dad wants her to be friends with let alone have sex with. Jack is a very hard and cold man, got that way after he killed his father who'd become a vampire.

He was only a kid when his Dad was bit, the senior Crow kept that fact from his family for three days. By that time he was into the change and already becoming the soulless creature he hunts. His father killed his mother than went after Jack. And he did the only thing he could do, after that he was never the same.

Jack is the love em' and leave em' type, the only attachments he allows himself is his team. Liz doesn't think he'd be able to handle any more than that. It'd be too many people to care about, too many people to look after. A part of her wonders if he still feels an attachment to her father. He's no longer a member of the team and therefore not one of his concerns.

"Next week you gotta come to the school, have lunch with us or something." Alex offers. Admittedly he wants to show his friend off a little bit. There is hardly a single person in this town who didn't believe Liz would remain a small-town girl forever.

Liz nods. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun." She grins about to bring another fry to her mouth; she'd like to check out the reactions that she'd be sure to cause. The fry comes within a hair breath of her lips when she picks up the sound of fast moving feet with her sensitive hearing.

Kyle watched in awe at how quickly Liz went from carefree and fun to cold and dissecting. Slowly she slides from the booth, the other team members on instant alert. Again for the second time that night the door rattles. A glow appears around the lock and Isabel bursts through the door falling to her knees in relief and crawls toward the center of the room.

Liz bypasses Isabel's fallen figure; her eyes never leave the double doors. Jack pulls his gun, climbs over the table and rushes to Liz's side ready to back her up against any Goons stupid enough to enter. She opens one of the doors and listens to the various sounds of the evening. A quiet sigh of relief floods through her, she didn't pick up anyone or anything following the alien Princess. "Clear." She shuts the door and locks it.

The team holsters their weapons and stare at the girl shivering on the ground. Alex, Kyle, and Tess surround their ex-alien friend. "Isabel, what happened?" Tess asks, kind but firm. "You need to take a deep breath and calm down honey."

"Things, they were people, but they weren't. Oh God, black goo was dripping from their mouths. They had fangs, I ran. What the Hell were those things?" Isabel embarrassingly shrieks. Liz winces, cursing her sensitive hearing.

Jeff cautiously comes up beside Isabel and helps her onto her feet. "Come on Isabel. Let's get you something to drink. You need to calm down and then you can fill us in on what happened. All right?" He smoothly eases away some of her worry. Gently he rubs her back and leads her away from the dining area. When Isabel is behind the swinging door Alex asks Liz why the vampire or vampires didn't follow Isabel.

"Goons want easy prey. Having to chase after them is too much work for them. Lazy fuckers." Liz scratches at her neck before turning to her leader. "Listen why don't you and the guys go to the motel. I'll stay here tonight."

"You sure?" He'd order his team to stay at the Crash if Liz asked but she shakes her head.

"Nah, I'll be fine. Kyle, Alex, and Tess will probably want to stay with Isabel and I doubt she'll want to go anywhere tonight. And if I decide to continue hunting then I wanna spend some time with them while I can. Trust me, if you guys stay here you'll be bored. At least back at the hotel you can order hookers and booze and not worry about wakin' anyone up or anyone walkin' in."

"All right. We'll be here tomorrow at 11 am. Re-con. Be ready." With a jerk of his head the rest of the members of the team stand, hug Liz, and leave the diner to head to their vehicles. Jack's about to leave as well but stops before walking out. He puts a hand on his waist and stares down at her. "If you need anything you call. The team and I will be here. Don't be handling any Goon problems by yourself."

Liz sighs, "Jack—"

"Don't argue with me. I've lost enough people I care about. I'm not about to lose anymore." If he'd been a softer, sweeter man he would have caressed her cheek, gently kissed her, tell her to be careful, and that's she's the closest he's come to loving a woman. But he's not a sweet man; he's not a gentle man. Violence is his world, his life, and that's the only way he knows to express his emotions. Gripping Liz's chin loosely he kisses her roughly, eating away at her willing mouth.

As abruptly as the kiss began it ended, leaving Liz breathing hard to an empty doorway. With heavy breaths she closes the door locking it again shutting the night away. "Okay what the hell was that about?" Tess points to the vacant doorway. Kyle and Alex have since gone in the back to check on how Isabel's doing.

"You mean the kiss?" Liz bites her lower lip, slides her hands into her back pockets and walks forward to Tess. "Jack and I…" She sighs, there is no her and Jack and there never will be. "We're complicated." She knows that won't be enough to satisfy her friend.

"I get that. What I saw at the door definitely wasn't simple. It's obvious he cares about you more than a team-mate, how come you aren't together?" She wonders.

"Jack isn't long-term, let's be together material. Wish it was different but if it were he wouldn't be Jack. He's great if you gotta itch that needs to be scratched and scratched real well." She smirks. "But if we got together on a long-term basis we'd drive each other nuts. He'd get antsy only being with one woman or being tied down and eventually he'd stray. And when he strayed I'd kill him. So we don't work on the dating exclusively level, but on the screwing level we're great."

"I hope he wasn't that rough with you the first time." Concern for her friend's safety forefront in her mind. If he hurt her she'd fry his balls off and shove them in his mouth till he choked on them.

"No, hardly. He made sure he didn't hurt me. When we're alone he can let his guard down more than when he's around other people." She shrugs. "Shall we see how Isabel's holding up?"

"Yeah, are you going to tell her about vampires?"

"I guess. What choice do I have? Don't really have any other believable explanations." Together Tess and Liz enter the backroom where Kyle and Alex are simultaneously rubbing Isabel's back. She's drinking tea and her nerves seem to be less frazzled.

Hearing Liz and Tess come in Isabel raises her gaze. "What the fuck were those things?" Now she's not one to swear, hardly if ever do curse words cross her lips but in this instance 'fuck' is the perfect word to use.

TBC

A.N. I was actually contemplating when I first began writing this fic in making it a Jack/Liz pairing. But as I thought about it some more I couldn't see Liz being the woman to tame Jack or at least tame him enough where he wouldn't get antsy being with one woman. So even though Ch 4 might elude otherwise Liz is still going to hook up with Nick.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

Liz licks her lips, eyes Isabel with skepticism, and twists her mouth up in thought. "Do you really wanna know? Once you hear this information you'll know till the day you die, which may be in the immediate future if you say yes." She gives her an opportunity to say no, that she'd prefer to stay ignorant and continue on in her normal alien Princess existence.

"No, I have to know." Isabel swallows hard bracing herself for how shocking this news must be for Liz to give her an out.

Nodding her head Liz accepts her answer. She pulls up a chair, as she's sitting she stops for a split second realizing before her butt touches the seat that she's still out of cigarettes. "Dammit, hold on." Liz briefly leaves the room entering her father's office. She's gone for a good three minutes but comes back out with an open pack of cigarettes. "Knew he had some."

"When did you start smoking?" Their confused friend asks. Never in her life would she have believed that Liz Parker would take up smoking. Those two things did not mix but here she is lighting up and inhaling the tobacco.

"After I saw my life flash before my eyes." She quietly glides over to her chair, Tess has taken a seat next to the couch, while Kyle and Alex are seated either side of Isabel. "Well, first thing you outta know is that vampires are real." Liz waits for the statement to sink in; she sees the exact moment it does.

Isabel breathes out slowly a few times trying to keep her shock from bubbling out of her mouth. Whatever she expected Liz to tell her that wasn't even in the top one hundred. Once she knows her shock is fully contained she speaks. "Vampires? They're not just myths they're real? Fantastic."

"Yep." Smoke curls from her mouth and nose giving Liz a sinister look. All she'd need now is red eyes to complete the evil persona. "Ready to hear the rest?"

Nervously Iz nods, she's heard the most difficult part of this information now all there is are the facts to back all this up. She's handled "evil" aliens; FBI agents, Max, and going on a date with a zit that wouldn't disappear because her powers were so new. Yeah, she can handle this.

"Ok." Liz leans forward resting her elbows on her knees. "Here's the deal, vampires, or at least the Goons I hurt are some of the lesser known vamps. Mostly you've heard about Dracula, Lestat, and Jean-Claude these Goons aren't anything like that. They're not romantic, they don't sleep in coffins lined with taffeta, holy water and garlic don't work on them."

"Then how do you kill them?" Isabel questions. If she ever runs across those—Goons again she wants to be able to kill them and not worry about being killed herself like she was tonight.

"Some of the legends are true, stake through the heart is damn effective, so is sunlight." Liz reaches over to a table and pulls the ashtray off flicking a long piece of ash into the crystal container. "First rule of hunting never go face to face with a Goon alone—unless you have no other choice. Goons are very strong, it's why we go in teams when dealing with a nest."

"How'd you get involved in all this?"

For a long while Liz stares at the burning tobacco, so long Isabel and the others wonder if she's going to answer the question. "After I left here I went to Florida, again. Lived with my Aunt for a couple of months. One night while walking home from work—I didn't have enough money for a cab and even if I did I doubt I would have called one. It was a nice night out."

She coughs, takes another drag from her cigarette before stamping it out in the ashtray. "I was only five blocks from my Aunt's place when I got jumped from behind. The Goon didn't wait a second before his fangs were in my neck sucking me dry. Fortunately for me a team, not Jack's, was coming along at that moment. Found out that they hadn't even tracked the vampire to that area, they weren't supposed to be in that part of town. Anyway they killed the Goon. Normal procedure is to also kill the person that had been bit. Except something stopped them, not sure what but I woke up a few days later at a mission."

"Jesus, why would they want to kill you just because you were bit? Wouldn't the place you woke up in have an antidote? Or something to help you?" The alien Princess asks.

Liz chuckles slightly. "Nope, couldn't exactly ask them either because by the time I woke up they were already on their way to another city. While I was in and out of consciousness they kept checking on me to make sure I wasn't turning. To this day they can't explain it but I have my suspicions." She lights up another cigarette. "When the Father took my blood, he saw changes each and everyday. But it wasn't a normal mutation of the blood cells when turning."

"Are you saying that…" Kyle speaks up this time. Much of what Liz is telling them he's already heard but this is a piece of news that is new even to him.

Liz only smirks. "My cells turned green, like Max's when I looked at them under a microscope. While the church officials told me that the Goon didn't have enough to drink a sufficient amount of my blood I knew different. Or at least what made more sense. When Max healed me he changed me, so I'm now an alien hybrid, at least halfway. A few days later, after I was told I wouldn't turn I took some of my own blood."

Tess had never heard that part of the story before, why didn't Liz tell them. This is information that they should have been in on. "How did the people that saw your blood react?"

"They explained it away as a normal mutation of the vampire gene figured I would get some Goon behaviors, which I did, but otherwise I'd remain human. Never considered that my blood might have an otherworldly explanation." She focuses solely on Tess now. "Don't worry hon, they don't believe in aliens nor do they believe I am an alien. And because of their own paranoia of not wanting anyone to find out about vampires unless necessary they destroyed the samples and records they took on my blood."

Tess nods breathing a sigh of relief, good to know the FBI wouldn't be breaking down the door any second to take them to be experimented on. Death would be a welcomed alternative. "So what happened when you took your blood?" Getting back on target.

"When I put it under the microscope my cells were green but they were also different than Max's. My blood had mutated and showed signs of the vampire disease. Basically I didn't know what I was or Hell if I wouldn't continue to change." Liz leans back into the chair. "After a couple more days at the mission, they offered me the opportunity to become a member of a team over in Monterey. I jumped at the chance."

"Where was your Aunt during all this? Wasn't she worried when you didn't come home?" Alex raises an eyebrow in question.

"Of course. Thankfully the priest called her, found her name in my cell phone memory, spoke to her and said that I had been attacked, I was doing all right but felt safer at the mission. They talked for a few more minutes and he convinced her that she didn't need to come down. Before I left I talked to her, told her I was going to Monterey, thanked her for taking care of me and left."

Liz is involved in telling Isabel, Kyle, Alex, and Tess the whole story she doesn't hear the swinging door open behind her until the person standing there speaks. "Elizabeth Claudia Parker. Young lady when you called me last week I told you to quit smoking." The stern voice reprimands. "Now come give me hug."

The brunette twists her head over towards the voice, turns her chair, smiles and stands, cigarette still in hand and hugs the woman she hasn't seen for almost a year. "Hi Mommy."

TBC

Upcoming Chapter:

Chapter 6: Nick and Sean arrive at their motel for the night. One of them bumps into Max and Maria. Liz reunites with her mother and continues to tell Isabel about Goons.

Chapter 7: Next morning, Isabel wakes up and is greeted by a surprisingly normal morning at the Parker's. While Liz gets ready for the re-con mission with the team.


	7. Chapter 6

This chapter is a little shorter than my other ones; also the Liz scene is getting pushed into the Ch 7. It would have been longer but I had to type my paper and that unfortunately took precedence. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

Chapter 6

Crash Landing Motel; 7:30 p.m.

"Hey I'm going to Mickey D's. What do you want?" Sean shrugged on his dark blue buttoned down shirt leaving it open. His white t-shirt underneath is coated with dust. If he didn't want to bring attention to himself he'd forgo the over shirt.

"Two Big Macs, large fries, and a coke." Nick tossed the bags on the bed. He wouldn't bother unpacking, what would be the point? In a week they'd be on their way again.

Sean grabbed a twenty from the wad of cash in his pocket. He and Nick recently quit the two jobs they got to get some money. At times they were so broke they had to steal but for the most part they were able to get jobs to keep from pulling the five-finger-discount everywhere they went. "All right. I'll be back. Try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

"Trouble? Don't know what you're talkin' about." Bullshit he knew, doesn't mean he had to acknowledge it. 

"Right, when I went out to get dinner you found a pretty little thing with a big fucking boyfriend and he started kickin' the crap out of you."

"That was simply a misunderstanding. The poor girl was choking I was helping her." Nick smirked.

Sean rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh. You were helping her with your tongue? Yea that's how I help a choking victim." With a shake of his head he left the room.

When Nick's partner in Forsaken hunting left he took his weapons bag and set the guns on the table. Almost two years ago some bitch at a party bit him. One stupid mistake and his life was forever changed to the shit existence lived now.

Thankfully the cocktails continued to work on him, he didn't know when his time would run out but he hoped it was a long while from now. Nick sat back in the overly plush chair lining up the firearms and bullets, in everything else he was disorganized but in hunting he was almost rigid. He couldn't afford to be anything else.

That didn't mean he wasn't creative at taking the Forsaken out, the first time he took Sean out, after he'd been bitten the night before, on that bright hot morning he used a shovel on that bitch in the trunk. Just because he's able to go with the flow didn't mean there weren't rules he liked to stick by.

Carefully he began loading the firearms one by one, two years ago the only thing he had to worry about was starting his sophomore year of college. Then the party happened and no more normal life, no more happy future.

Now he lived one day at a time, searching and hoping…yea he had hope, just because it wasn't likely he'd ever find the Forsaken that started his journey didn't mean he gave up on hope all together. He remembered a simpler time, he had two parents who loved him, a little sister who was a pest but he'd never trade her in for another one, even had a dog that he threw Frisbee's too.

Nick's eyes burned with unshed tears, he couldn't think about them now, he had a job to do, after this was over he'd go back to Washington reunite with his family. He promised Erica, his sister, that he'd come back, he wouldn't break it.

Outside McDonald's; 7:40 p.m.

Sean hurried out of the Charger, he was hungry, and they hadn't grabbed a bite to eat since this morning. As he was walking in someone accidentally bumped into him.

"Oh, scuse me." A dark haired kid that reminded him of an asshole he knew of when he was in high school apologized.

"It's alright." The blonde behind him practically growled in annoyance at the dark haired guy and pushed passed him hurrying to a jeep a few spaces away from his car. "Don't mind me." He shouted angry at her attitude. 

"Sorry about that. She's had a difficult day, I'm Max." He held out his hand.

Sean stared at the hand for him and decided to shake it, after all, this guy hadn't been rude. "Sean. What's her problem anyway?" Curiosity got the better of him. 

"An old friend of hers showed up, she's a real whore, while we were together she slept with another guy and completely shoved Maria," he pointed to the blonde huffing in the jeep, "out of her life not telling her what was going on."

"Wow. Sorry to hear about that, but you really should tell her not to take her anger out on innocent bystanders." Sean quirked an eyebrow at him before turning around and heading into the restaurant.

TBC


	8. Chapter 7

A.N. This chapter's really short I'm sorry, that's just the way it worked out.

**Chapter 7**

_Crashdown Café_

Liz held on tight to her mother, as the older woman whispered to her. "Oh my beautiful baby girl. When your father told me what happened I was so worried." She stroked her hair lovingly. Gently she pulled back and looked closely at Liz's face. "My brave girl." Nancy ran a finger over the almost fully healed wound.

"I'm okay Mom. I promise. It wasn't nearly as bad as last time." Liz informed her immediately regretting it.

"Last time?" She stared into her daughter's vibrant golden eyes. "What in God's name happened last time?" This was the first she'd ever heard something like this.

Liz winced, "Did Daddy not tell you? Cuz I didn't mean to say anything."

"You tell me." Nancy demanded.

She sighed not even bothering to fight her stubborn mother. "Last time I kinda, almost—died." Nancy put a hand over her mouth in shock. "But really it was only a little dead. I was fine in a couple weeks." Yea so she drooled at the sight of blood for a few more days after and big deal she stayed out of direct sunlight for a week. Nothing serious.

"A little dead. Lizzie there is no such thing as a little dead. Your father knew about this and failed to inform me?" She fumed. How dare Jeff keep this from her.

Liz tried to appease her mother but nothing could help the anger flaming in her eyes. "I'm sure Dad just wanted to protect you. After all I was fine and he knew—or might have gotten the absolutely insane idea that you'd overreact."

"Oh I'm going to overreact all right." Jeff was not going to like how she overreacted to her baby, her only baby, almost dying. She hated that Liz became a part of Jeff's past life. He quit to keep her away from that but when Liz told them she'd be fighting with Jack—Nancy figured it was in her blood.

Calming a little Nancy took in the other occupants in the room; Alex, Tess, and Kyle she expected but Isabel she didn't. Her being there made no sense. "What is she doing here?" She didn't want anyone who hurt her daughter whether it be emotional or physically near her.

"It's okay Mom," she was saying that a lot lately. "Isabel was attacked outside by Goons. I've been getting her up to speed on what's what."

Nancy believed Liz but felt she had to make sure Isabel understood exactly where she stood. "All right," she stared the tall blonde directly in the eye. "If I hear that you breathed a word of this to that sniveling little rodent you call a brother I will make sure those will be the last words you say to anybody." She threatened.

Tess snuck a glance toward Isabel and watched as shock gave way to understanding and acceptance. "He won't hear about this from me. I promise. Max and I aren't exactly on speaking terms as it is." She assured the group.

"Good." Nancy didn't bother to mince words. Liz's safety, privacy, and to a certain extent sanity was on the line. If Isabel said a word to Max he'd be poking and prodding into matters that were private and could get Liz killed if she were distracted. Max could even be caught in the crossfire and if he was hurt Liz would feel unbelievable guilt that she couldn't protect him.

If Liz thought she was safe from her mother's temper she thought wrong. "And you," She rose her gaze as if to say 'who me?' "You promised you'd quit smoking." Nancy plucked the cigarette dangling from her mouth.

"I never promised, and I never said how much I'd quit. I'll you know I'm down to a pack a day." She knew that wasn't what her mother wanted to hear but that was all she could give her.

"How much were you smoking before?" Kyle asked.

"About two packs. Killing Goons is stressful work, had to find some way to keep my wits about me. Smoking gave me something to do." She shrugged her shoulders, Liz took the cigarette back from Mom and put it right back into her mouth.

"Liz you know how I feel about smoking in the house."

"I know, that's why I'm only going to smoke down here or outside. Promise." She held her hand up. Although Nancy didn't like it in the least she relented, Liz would only quit when she wanted to, and now wasn't it.

Dropping the subject Nancy moved to stand by the stairs. "Why don't all of you come upstairs. There's probably still some ice cream left in the freezer…that is if Jeff hasn't eaten it all yet." Before she began her ascent she looked at Isabel. "Are you going to head home or would you like to have some ice cream with us?"

Liz saw her stare of uncertainty and spoke up. "Actually Mom I offered her the opportunity to stay here tonight. After the attack I didn't think it'd be safe for her to go out there."

Mom was reluctant to allow Isabel into her home, but the confidence Liz had in her eyes broke down any worries she had. "I'd have no objection to that. In fact it might not be a bad idea to stay the night." If she stayed than Liz wouldn't feel like she had to escort the alien princess home and probably get ambushed herself.

"Thank you Mrs. Parker. I'll be out of your hair by 9 tomorrow morning." She promised.

"Oh don't be ridiculous. Sleep in as long as you want. As long as Liz doesn't mind you being here neither do I. There's no need to be rushing off." She told her. Nancy went upstairs with the five teenagers following behind her all wanting dessert.

TBC


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_**Next Morning; 8:37 a.m.; Parker Apartment**_

Isabel sat alone in Liz's room; she'd woken up ten minutes ago but still hadn't gathered the courage to leave the privacy the room offered. Through the closed door she could hear happy voices, laughter, and the pangs of cookware from the kitchen. With Max not there to verbally harass her she felt lighter, like she could join in the fun only a room away.

Determined to get her life back to what it was before she flung back the covers and made her way to the door that separated her from the action.

"So there Lance was his pants around his ankles, when out of no where this pissed off Goon jumped out from behind a pile of dead bodies. Blood dripping from its mouth and Lance ran away tripping over his pants, piss ran all down his legs. He never peed out in the woods again." Liz tossed the empty orange juice carton in the garbage.

Alex choked on his juice but managed to swallow before he drowned in apple juice. "That is hilarious. What happened with the Goon?"

"Jack got his gun, the one that fires the stakes, rammed it into its heart. Black goo spurted from the edges and the Padre was in the jeep, dragged that crispy critter out into the quickly fading sunlight and fried the fucker. There's nothin' like freshly fried fang face."

"You make it sound like it's great to have for breakfast." Kyle stood straighter and modeled a fake box. "Want to meet a vamp face to face but don't want that unpleasant side effect of dying? Try 'Freshly Fried Fang Face' guaranteed to give you that satisfied feeling without putting your life in danger. Pick it up at your local grocery store today."

Tess, Alex and Liz were in tears from laughing so hard. Liz bent over shaking while struggling to control her tittering. Isabel's bare feet shuffled along the carpet in the hallway bringing their attention to the empty doorway. In seconds it's filled by Isabel's presence. "Hey Isabel. Want some breakfast? We're makin' omelets and pancakes with sausage…that is if Kyle can finish mixing the pancake batter."

"You can't rush these things, besides my philosophy is why bother making breakfast when you can go to the IHOP down the street. Or even better the restaurant your friend's parents own." He continued to stir the mixture in the bowl.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Yea that'd be fine if I hadn't lived off fast food joints and 7-11 slurpies." She pushed off from the counter grabbing the bowl from Kyle. "I want a home-cooked breakfast and I'm going to get a home-cooked breakfast."

At the moment Nancy came into the room, "All right outta of my kitchen. Go watch cartoons while I make the food."

"Oh Mom you don't have to do that." Liz argued but Mom shook her head.

"If I want breakfast before dinner time I better take over."

"Thanks Mrs. Parker. And just for future reference we're too old for cartoons." Kyle told her. "Now it's all about the sophistication of 'The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'." He ran to the living room and changed the show from Bugs Bunny to Power Rangers.

Alex snorted rudely. "Please, Bugs is the best, way better than Power Rangers." He stole the remote from his friend changing the channel back to where it was, good quality programming. Watching Bugs trick Daffy Duck, pure genius. "This is the one where Daffy is on a piece of paper and someone keeps changing the scenery and outfits. Turns out it's our favorite rabbit."

"But," Kyle took the remote back. "This is classic Rangers, back when Rita was the bad guy and Putties were causing mayhem. Much better than a bunny and duck."

While Alex and Kyle continue their argument over what's better Tess, Isabel, and Liz look on in amusement. "How bout we settle this for them?" Tess suggested.

"I'm all for that." With a wave of her hand the taller blonde alien sent the remote flying into Liz's hands and Tess flicked her wrist changing the channel to Charmed.

"Hey!" Both boys shouted at the same time.

"We like the witches, it's staying on the witches." Liz told them, they'd either have to accept it or whine about it.

"Give it back Liz." Kyle rose from the floor.

"No." She laughed holding the remote firmly in her grasp. If he wanted it he'd have to come and get it.

Without warning he leapt over the couch landing in front of Liz. Smiling she ran for it, as she ran around the living room she shoved the remote into her shirt. Then she stopped smirking at her friend. "You want it come get it."

"You think that'll be enough to stop me? I'll reach in there."

She didn't say a word; only smiled a dashing grin at her former boyfriend turned best friend. "You don't have the guts Valenti." To tell the truth she really had no clue what Kyle would do, he could go either way in this situation.

Kyle, with no hesitation reached forward, dragged Liz forward by her shirt, turned her around and reached into said shirt. Trying his damndest to get the remote to change it back to what he viewed as classic television. However he didn't take into account that Jeff could come up stairs at any moment and see his hand down his daughter's shirt.

"Want to tell me why your hand is groping inside my baby girl's top?" Jeff's voice was cold as steel and it was not a tone to be messed with.

"Hi Daddy." Liz giggled.

"Mr. Parker." Quickly he took his hand out. "Liz was hiding the remote and I went to go get it." That sounded so lame after he said it he put his head in his hands. "You know I'll save you the trouble and throw myself out." He smiled tightly.

"Dad be nice. He's telling the truth. I didn't think he'd actually go in after it."

"Please Lizzie. You're a beautiful young woman, what teenage boy in their right mind wouldn't go after it?" Jeff rose his eyebrows. "Kyle stay, why don't you set up the table. But no more putting anything of yours in any place on my daughter." He made sure the young man understood before helping out Nancy in the kitchen.

An hour later, after breakfast the phone call Liz had been waiting for came. It was Jack, he'd be by to pick her up so they could check out the shit shack where Goons and hopefully a Master squatted. In a less than a half an hour she'd be back to what she loved, taken care of vampires.

TBC

Upcoming Chapter: Liz and Nick finally come face to face. While Jeff overhears something he wished he hadn't.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_Stakeout_

Jack stood with his binoculars watching the shack a few hundred feet down the road. Looked like every other New Mexico shit-hole, he lived for this job but this was the part that he could do without. If he had his way he'd burst in guns blazing, Goon toasting as he went along searching for Masters.

Liz leaned against the weapons truck and bathed in the hot sun moaning blissfully at the warm rays penetrating her skin. The kiss last night was a mistake, not only did it make her want more of Jack it threw her off. Not enough where it was obvious but she could feel that she might slip up.

She was creeping back into that mind-set of being lovers with the Slayer leader. That's dangerous, no question it was dangerous. One wrong move and her father would know she had been with his friend intimately and the shit would hit the fan.

Cringing Liz rested her forehead against the back doors of the truck. The cramps were getting worse; there were a lot of Goons and maybe one or two Masters hiding out in there.

"You're not looking so good darlin'." The deep rumble of Jack's voice cut through the pain.

"Boy you sure know how to flatter a girl don't you?" She turned away from the truck to face him. He grabbed his favorite weapon when hunting and stared at her.

"Saying it like it is." But he didn't say anymore than that, all he did was stare. Jack knew if he ordered her to stay out with the trucks that she'd become violent.

Liz nodded pushing away from the steady warmth of the steel truck, stepped closer to the open back and loaded up with weapons that would take out Goons left and right. "You mention anything about staying put I swear I'll shove the barrel of my gun so far down your throat you'll need surgery to remove it from your ass."

"Wasn't going to say anything about that. Not that I don't think it's the best idea."

"You're pushin' it Crow." She hated arguing with Jack-sometimes, unfortunately he had some issues with women taking charge of themselves that couldn't even be beaten out of him.

Off on the other side of the truck Seth played with his ear piece connecting him to Jeff listening in at the Crashdown. He'd wanted to hear everything, Seth figured it was one of two reasons, the first he'd been out of the hunt for so long that he needed that little bit of action even if he wasn't in the thick of it. The second being he wanted to really know how Liz was doing in Jack's unit.

"Check 1, check 2. Copy?" He spoke into his microphone.

"Loud and clear." Jeff reported back. It'd been too long since he heard a Goon fight, too long since he'd been the one pulling the punches, shooting Goons full of holes, and shoving stakes through their hearts. He missed the good old days.

"You don't know when I'm pushing kid." Jack's voice reached Seth's ears. "This is not pushing."

"Hmm, guess the two are at it again. Don't worry Jeff they normally fight like this before a Goon battle." Seth reassured the father listening on the other end.

Back behind the truck, unaware of the two eavesdroppers on the other side Liz shot back. "Oh really, I wouldn't know when you're pushing? What do you call the last few months? Gentle nudging? Please you push all the time and think you're not. You think you're spontaneous and unpredictable but you are as predictable as they come."

"I seem to recall quite a few unpredictable moments between us." He hissed.

"Oh you're bringing that up? Yea, it would have been unpredictable if your dick hadn't given your plan away." Those few weeks-and a few times after that-sleeping with Jack while wonderful and unbelievable wasn't a surprise. His happy place stood up in his lap acting as a warning to her that he'd be coming for her in minutes and to get ready.

"Never heard you complainin'. As a matter of fact heard you call to God a few hundred times, gave my ego a huge boost."

"As if your ego needed more stroking." Slowly the arguing between them lessened. Even the bickering back and forth wasn't new. They did it before every battle, it had become a tradition, and got them fired up for the physical fight ahead.

Liz coughed clearing her throat. "Why did you kiss me last night? The last time we slept together we both made it clear that we wouldn't do anything sexual with each other anymore. That kiss was gearing me up for the sexual."

"Seemed like the thing to do. Plus it's unlikely we'd do it again. Last kiss type thing, closing the door." He admitted.

"That door was blown wide open as opposed to closed tight." She told him. "I'm not going to fall into that are we or aren't we hole again. Did that-a couple of times before, not even with you." Liz shrugged. Holstering her handgun she lifted her hair up into a ponytail. "I'll tell you this though we're hot in bed together, hot outta bed, but we'd never work and I know that."

"Good, it's better that you know." He nodded, settled the crossbow over his shoulder and left the truck to watch the shack again.

Seth cringed, that wasn't the best conversation to have Liz's father hear. "Mr. Parker?" No way would he call him Jeff, he remembered his manners.

"Seth, tell me I didn't hear what I just heard." His voice came out calmly but anger laced.

"Okay you didn't."

"Now you're lying to me. Jack fucked Liz." There not a question there for Seth to answer, he knew full well what occurred between the older man and Liz. "My best friend screwed my daughter." Didn't sound any better and still there was no question there.

"Mr. Parker. May I suggest you look at it this way-at least you know Jack took care of her-being your daughter after all."

"Seth…that did not help."

"Yes sir." Great he probably made the situation worse for them. After Jeff got finished with him Jack and Liz were going to kill him. This was turning out to be such a great day.

"Don't tell Jack that I know. Understand?"

"Yes sir. No telling Jack." Oh the boss would be pissed but Jeff scared him more.

_10 minutes later_

On the other side of the small house Nick and Sean stood guard, watching the house for any movement. They'd been there for five minutes formulating a plan to go around the joint checking things out before they went in much later.

It'd been decided, they'd do a quick sweep around the place, leave till a little before dusk, come back to the house-follow the Forsaken if need be, which the need would likely arise. Forsaken weren't known for staying in one area for too long. After that when it neared dawn they'd lead them to a cemetery near by and wait for sunrise. Laid out like that it sounded easy but it would be anything but.

Nick tipped his head toward the house and off the duo went. Dust kicked up as they jogged quietly, only the fall of their heavy boots could be heard but those thumps were muddled with caution.

_2 minutes later_

"Alright everyone ready?" His team nodded. "Let's go." Jack strode forward, Liz and Father Adam behind him, with the other members of the team following them, minus Lance, who was out by the truck ready to pull a Goon or better yet a Master out in the bright sun. Quiet and quick the team moved. They reached the door with no problem but Liz stopped Jack once they were on the porch.

She put a finger to her lips signaling silence. A creak, a tiny insignificant creak reached her ear. It came from the other side of the house. Couldn't be a Goon, not even a Master, it was broad daylight out. Liz took her weapon out cradling the familiar cool metal in her hands. Her finger rested beside the trigger prepared to shoot whatever or whoever was there.

Alone she split off from the protective group keeping close to the house. Not the best move considering what squatted in there but she wasn't too worried. All the Goons should be sleeping like all evil bloodsuckers.

Another creak from the side of the house confirmed the presence. Reaching the edge of the house she stepped out gun pointed straight ahead. "Michael? What the hell are you doing here?" When did he change his hair back to the mullet style? Wasn't he growing it out this year? That's the way it looked when she saw him in the diner.

"Who the hell's Michael?" The guy questioned rudely pointing his own firearm at her.

"If you're not Michael than why don't you tell me who you are?" If she was going to shoot him the least he could do was tell her his name.

Maybe it was a shapeshifter, were they still in Roswell? She suppose it was possible but if he was a shapeshifter did the other's know about it?"

"Not that it's any of your business but the names Nick. Who are you and why are you here?"

"Liz and real-estate shopping."

"Do you always real-estate shop with a gun at the ready?" He sarcastically spat.

"Yes, real-estate agents can get quite pushy. It's here to make sure they keep in line." She shot back. This asshole gave her irritation meter a work out. "So what's a big strapping boy like you doing out here all alone?"

Another guy came out from the back of the house holding a gun on her. "He's not alone. Now why don't you put your gun down and we can have a nice calm conversation." The new guy reasoned.

"See I would but I'm not alone either." She could feel the guys come up from behind her weapons raised and ready for action. "I seem to out-number you. I'll tell you what, you two gentlemen put your guns down and me and mine won't riddle you with holes."

"Well damn." Nick breathed in deep. Not good.

TBC


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 **

"Listen, obviously you're here for the same reason we are, there is some weird ass shit going down—you're looking for them too." Nick didn't lower his weapon but held one hand up to show he didn't want to have a huge gun-battle with them.

"You're hunters too?" She switched her gaze back and forth between the two men. "You don't look like hunters." All the hunters she'd come in contact with were more than just two guys. Nobody could take out a whole house worth of Goons with two guys. That didn't even take into consideration if a Master was squatting there.

Although there were stories—legends of a few men and women who could deal with the undead alone, no crew needed. Unlikely though, if that were the case wouldn't someone have met one of these people by now?

Nick chuckled, "Well neither do you. Haven't you ever heard never judge a book by its cover?"

Jack scowled at the two newcomers that were ruining his hunt; nothing bothered him more than some upstart kid butting into his business. No way in hell did the Goons inside not know they were outside waiting to drag their disgusting asses out into the bright sun. "Can we continue this tea-party later for after we kill the fucking Goons?" He stood between Liz and the boy still pointing his gun at her…another thing that irritated the hell out of him.

"Goons?" The other man, standing next to Nick, spoke. "Don't you mean Forsaken? What's this nonsense about killing them here? You can't kill a Forsaken unless it's on hallowed ground."

Liz much to Jack's chagrin went around him, her gun lowered but still out. "No he meant Goons. A whole nest of them right in there." She pointed to the shack. "What are Forsaken?"

"You've got to be bullshitting me. You're out here all suited up and you have no idea what you're hunting. That's rich." Nick laughed. "Just because you gave them a new name doesn't mean the way to kill them is different. This is a re-con mission not a kill." Nick rolled his eyes. "Go on home and let the professionals handle it."

"And we're the professionals—so go back up that hill and get the hell—" Cracking boards and splintering wood broke up the argument, hands reached out and grabbed Jack dragging him through the window. "JACK!" Liz shouted following in after him.

Nick pushed one of the guys that tried to follow back and climbed in. It was dark everywhere except for the large area he just climbed through. The light spilled around his body as he tried to find Liz and guy she called Jack. He heard them fighting the Forsaken. Although why a Forsaken would be hiding out here was a mystery, it wasn't exactly their kind of place to wait away the day.

Finally his eyes adjusted enough for him to be able to see what was happening. Jack shouted to Liz. "Shoot it! Fucking shoot it!"

"I'll hit you dammit." Not once did either of them stop moving. Jack flipped the snarling creature with black goop dripping from its mouth over his shoulder. That was definitely not a Forsaken. Liz grabbed a table leg and started hitting the creature violently before shoving the wooden leg through its neck. The creature gurgled and tried to pull at the wood deeply embedded into the wall behind it.

Around him the other members of the group, who smashed through the front door, were fighting other creatures like the one writhing on the wall. They weren't Forsaken, there really were more evil things out there than just the monsters he was hunting.

Behind him he saw a blur move, he turned quickly and shot at the thing coming at him. It went down but came back up—pissed off.

Just as he went to shoot it again an arrow punched through its chest cavity spraying him with the black goop dribbling from its mouth. Before he could blink it was being dragged out through the open doors and into the sunlight.

An hour later what Liz called the nest had been cleared out. No closet went unchecked; any furniture that could be used as a hiding place was over turned. Now he sat on the steps with Sean trying to make sense out what he saw and participated in.

Gary and Robert, the terror twins, high five each other and congratulate the other on a job well done. They cast laughing glances at the two newbies sitting on the steps of the shit-hole they cleaned out. "You boys alright?" Robert chuckled.

"Yea…we'll be fine." Sean replied. Not looking up at the two, Nick and Sean couldn't take their eyes off of the skulls resting on the hood of one of the vehicles.

Liz seeing their shock sat next to them, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a silver flask filled with whiskey. "Drink this. It'll help."

Sean took a drink first before handing it to Nick. Once they had a swig he gave it back to her. "Thanks."

"No problem." She put it away. "Now why did you call them Forsaken? What are those?" She had a hunch that there was something she didn't know…and that was a feeling she couldn't stand.

Swallowing Nick turned his gaze to her. "Forsaken is what we hunt," he turned back to the empty house. "But those things…they weren't Forsaken. Not by a long shot. What we hunt are almost like the vampires you see on TV all the time. The can act human, look normal, except for the whole ripping your throat out as they feed."

"They usually have a day driver, someone to take them places and take care of them during the day." Sean scratched at his head.

"So I could have seen one of these Forsaken and not even realized it?" Great, that didn't fill her with warm and fuzzy feelings.

"Maybe but it's unlikely." Nick told her. "There were only two in the United States a year ago, now there's only one. There are two more out of the country, one in Europe and one in Africa." He needed to find the one left that was in the U.S. he had to be the one that he was connected too. If he wasn't how the hell would he be able to track the other two?

"So are there only three left? Don't they have any…I don't know your version of Goons running around?"

"Yea, they usually travel with at least two others that they've changed." Sean watched as the team loaded up their truck with skulls and put their weapons back where they got them.

Nick stood up and stared down at Sean and Liz. "Thankfully the Feeders and what they turn into can be killed with decapitation and sunlight. Just like your Goons."

"Wow. I can't believe we never heard of these things before. Not even a whisper. The church is going to be pissed." Liz predicted.

"Church?"

"Yea, basically we're hunters for the church. We get paid—not enough in my opinion, to kill Goons and Masters for the church." She shrugged. The guys were almost done packing up the fried skulls of the lower level vamps. "Why don't you come with us. We can talk some more and maybe get you two something to eat." She slapped Sean on the shoulder because he was the closest to her.

"You know that sounds like a good idea." Nick agreed standing beside her. There were a lot more things to talk about, they needed to know if there were more Goons, or Forsaken around the city and if there were, pull together to send those nasty fuckers back to hell and to cure the virus he carried.

TBC


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It didn't take long to get back to the Crashdown, the drive took about twenty minutes. Nick and Sean followed behind them in the Charger that they mentioned used to belong to the Forsaken that they killed.

When they pulled up Liz and Jack exited the truck and made their way toward the Crashdown double doors. The crew followed close behind with Nick and Sean bringing up the rear. They weren't even completely inside the restaurant when Dad punched Jack square in the jaw.

"Get up asshole." Jeff fumed.

"Dad!" Liz ran up to him. "What the hell are you doing?" She knew she probably shouldn't get involved in the fight but she wanted answers.

"Lizzie stay out of this. It's between me and Jack." He'd teach the prick not to mess around his daughter.

Jack stood up and got in a fighting stance, he didn't care if Jeff was a friend nobody hit him and got away with it. He didn't play that game. "Wanna tell me why the fuck you sucker punched me like a pussy?"

Lance cringed, this wasn't going to be pretty. Jeff was fuming over the communicator and he wanted a piece of Jack's hide for laying one sexual finger on her. If Jeff hadn't wanted to listen in the father could still stay blissfully unaware of Liz's bed partners.

"You fucked my daughter. My best friend touched my little girl." Jeff growled.

Liz froze and stared at him, oh my God he knew. How the hell did he find out, the only person she told was…Tess. If she opened her mouth she was going to kill her friend.

"She's not your little girl anymore Jeff." Jack argued.

"She'll always be my little girl. You'd never understand that because you don't have a child. Now I'm going to kick your ass so lets get this started."

"Fine. If that's the way you want to play it." Jack swung at him and hit him in the face; he followed with a punch to the gut.

As her father and friend fought it out she went into the back in search of Tess. She needed to know if her friend betrayed her trust or if it was a slip of the tongue. She'd like to think that she and Tess were past purposefully hurting each other. Had she read the other girl wrong and let in a traitor?

Out in the restaurant she heard glass breaking and bodies slamming into things. As much as she'd like to break up the fight she knew Dad and Jack needed to sort this out for themselves, she had slightly more pressing matters to deal with.

Having heard the noise from downstairs Tess, Kyle, Alex, and Isabel came down the stairs from the upstairs apartment. "What is going on down here?" Kyle questioned.

"Dad found out that I've slept with Jack. Dad's pissed. Tess can I talk to you for a second alone?" She passed the others and went upstairs.

Shrugging her shoulders she followed the brunette back to her home. "What's up?"

"Did you tell Dad about Jack and me?" Please, say no. Please say I didn't put my trust in the wrong person.

"Of course I didn't. How could you think that I would do that?" Tess backed up a little from Liz. Offended that Liz immediately thought the worse of her.

Sighing with relief she nodded. "Are you sure you didn't say it accidentally? I can understand if you blurted it out."

"I didn't say anything." She glared upset that she didn't believe her. "It's nice to know that you don't trust me though." She began to walk back downstairs.

Hurrying after her Liz managed to get in front of her before she left through the backdoor of the Crashdown. "Tess, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I just jumped to the worse case scenario but you're the only person I told. So I leave and everything between Dad and Jack is fine then I come back and Dad's throwing punches at his best friend saying that he was going to kick his ass."

Taking a breath she continued. "The only explanation I could come up with was that someone told him whether by accident or purpose and the only person who knew besides the crew was you. And the crew knows better then to talk about Jack and me."

Tess paused. "Yea well maybe it was you?" She didn't think she was ready to forgive Liz quite yet. "Jeff was listening in when you went to hunt. He said he wanted a vicarious thrill, since he couldn't go out himself and be a part of the action." With that she left the Crashdown, she needed some time to herself.

"Oh shit." If Dad was listening in then it was her he heard the information from. She and Jack had been talking and bantering back and forth. Sleeping with him had come up. Shit.

She switched her gaze back and forth from the ruckus in the restaurant to the back door unsure of whom to go after. First things first, she had to stop the two men out there from killing each other then she had to go talk to Tess. She owed her a couple apologies.

Hurrying out of the backroom through the swinging door she ran up to the feuding friends. "Stop it, both of you now." She wedged herself between them and pushed them apart. "You are acting like two year olds."

Jack wiped away a trail of blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. "I don't take to kindly to anyone hitting me Liz."

"And Dad doesn't take to kindly to his best friend sleeping with me. We all have things we don't like." She glared. Sighing she faced Dad. "I know you don't like it…but who I sleep with is not your business."

"I'm your father everything you do is my business." Jeff grabbed a wad of tissues and pressed it to his temple where Jack had hit him with the side of a table.

"Not this. I was eighteen when we were together. That's the cut off date for you to have any say in who I'm with." She hated having this conversation out in the restaurant in front of the crew, Kyle, Isabel, Alex, and the two newcomers. Liz was happy that the restaurant was closed that day. "If it makes you feel better we're not together anymore."

If she thought that would smooth things over she was dead wrong. "You sleep with her then you dump her? You better start making funeral arrangements Jack." He stepped forward but Liz pushed back against his chest.

"Daddy stop it. What happened or didn't happen with Jack and me is over and it was mutual. Back off. Go upstairs and get cleaned up. We have other things that we need to deal with right now." It was time to end this nonsense.

"What?" Jeff's jaw was still clenched but he was willing to listen to what Liz thought was more important.

"Goons and Masters aren't the only things out there. Apparently there are Forsaken. Our two guests have had personal experience. We need to figure out what is killing people around Roswell and then kill it ourselves. Can you hold off hurting Jack till we figure this all out?"

Jeff stood straighter, noticing the two boys who weren't there when Liz left. One was from the other night, he had come to the Crashdown doors. While the other…no way, was that Michael? "Fine." He turned back to Jack. "But we will sort this out when it's over." With that said he sat on a stool dabbing at his wounds.

"I'm counting on it." Jack also sat, only he sat in a booth.

The others, Isabel, Kyle, and Alex finally saw who else was in the Crash besides the crew. "Michael?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Not Michael. Who is Michael? I've been mistaken for him twice now." He crossed his arms and stared at the three who were openingly staring at him.

Liz took pity on Nick. "Michael is a friend of Isabel's and he could be your twin."

TBC


	13. Chapter 12

A.N. Ok, I have no idea what the relationship was between Mary and Bobby Dupree (Laurie's Aunt and Uncle) at times they seemed like husband and wife, while other times they seemed like siblings. So for the sake of this story they are siblings. Even though I felt that this little tidbit required a note they will not be in the fic except for a mention.

**Chapter 12**

"Yea right." Nick scoffed. Sure he knew that there were people who looked similar to other people that they had never met before but he doubted that someone looked exactly like him.

"No we're serious." Liz told him. "Isabel do you have a picture of Michael?"

"One…you have no idea how hard it is to get Michael to stand still for a picture. It's upstairs let me grab it." Isabel hurried up the stairs to the apartment, took her purse and went back downstairs. It took another minute to find her wallet and find the picture. "Here, see."

Nick looked skeptical but took the picture from her hand anyway. Imagine his surprise when he in fact looked like this Michael that everyone was mistaking him for. The differences were so subtle it took even him a moment to see the differences. The only obvious was his hair, while Nick's was flattened and framed his face, Michael's was standing straight up.

"That picture was taken about a year ago, his hair looks similar to yours now, although he's growing his out." Isabel explained the differences in hairstyle.

"This is unbelievable." He whispered.

Where Michael had some muscle it wasn't as defined as Nick's. He had a tan where Michael was paler but not by much. Other than those few things there was no difference in appearance.

"See why we thought you were Michael." Liz smirked.

Sean swiped the photo from his friend and looked at it. "Wow. That's unreal. I heard that everyone has a twin but this is…wow."

"Try my side of the moment." Nick exhaled.

Isabel stood facing him. "Are you related to the Dupree's in anyway?" She remembered Michael and Maria and Michael's…relative Laurie. "Michael was adopted and he found out that Laurie's grandfather looked exactly like him."

"Yea, Laurie's my cousin." He admitted. He didn't really know them all that well and to be honest he didn't care that much. His Aunt Mary and Uncle Bobby, those were Laurie's aunt and uncle too, thought he and his family weren't good enough to be acknowledged by them. "Are you saying that he could be my twin."

"In a way." Isabel skirted around the alien issue. That would bring up far more questions then she was ready to answer.

Nick looked at the picture again. Grandpa Charles had five children, three boys and two girls. Many of the children of Grandpa's kids that were boys had similar features to their ancestor but he was the only one who looked exactly like him.

Isabel looked at Alex, Kyle, and Liz with concern. She didn't know what to do, Max had always made the final decisions on all things alien. There were times that Michael wouldn't listen but for the most part Max's word was final.

Liz saw Isabel's dilemma, "So how are you related to Mary and Bobby?" That should give Iz some time to figure out if she wanted to tell the newcomers about the alien secret. On the other hand Liz realized she should probably tell Isabel that her crew knew about aliens and that Tess knew of their knowledge of aliens. That wouldn't go over well.

"Aunt and Uncle obviously. They are Grandpa Charlie's kids, although they always did seem to be something off about them." He shivered slightly.

"Off?" Isabel questioned.

"Yea, in the sense that being siblings didn't stop them from behaving…overly friendly with each other." Nick explained. While the family, before they were disowned, never saw Mary and Bobby be inappropriate with each other there was a weird vibe with them.

"Was she hot?" Kyle spoke up.

Both Isabel and Liz hit him in the chest. "That's sick Kyle." Isabel admonished.

"What? I was just asking." He defended.

Jeff, who had left the dining area to get an ice pack for his chin, came back into the room. He glared at Jack for a second before turning to the others. "So how do we figure out what group of vampires are behind the disappearances around here?"

Alex stepped forward and took the floor. "I think what we should do is first is sit down and both Jack's team and Nick and Sean tell us about the vampires they fight. After that we'll go from there."

"That's a good idea." Sean agreed.

Liz nodded. "Great. While you guys do that, I gotta go do some damage control." She pointed toward the outside and started to leave when Isabel called her back.

"Why what happened?"

"Long story short, I fucked up and need to go smooth things over with Tess." Liz grimaced. She felt awful for jumping to conclusions but unfortunately it wasn't a trait some people could help. Namely herself. She liked to think she was calm and rational and at times she was, she had to be with what she did for a living but there would always be a part of her that jumped before looking.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Isabel offered. "It might be better if we talk to her together."

"Thanks but I think it's better to go one on one with Tess. If we came together she might think we're ganging up on her." Liz explained. Besides Tess respected people who had the balls, literal or figurative, to stand up and admit when they were wrong, without the back up of others.

Isabel nodded but she lost some of her smile. She wanted to continue working on her and Tess's own issues. Max, Michael, Maria, and she hadn't treated Tess very well when it was clear that she changed sides, so to speak. She had chosen Liz over her alien obligations and that hadn't sat well with any of them.

Only since her own split from her brothers and Maria did she realize how cruel she had been to the only girl who knew what it was like to be an alien and female. Tess, a girl who despite being an outsider for months had managed to find a place to belong to outside of the alien secret, Isabel envied that.

Jeff walked Liz to the front doors of the restaurant. "Be careful alright?"

"I will. And don't get into anymore fights with Jack." She begged. "At least not until I get back." She teased.

"Fine." Liz gave him a kiss on the cheek and left the restaurant at a jog.

TBC


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

It took Liz ten minutes to make it to the Valenti home where Tess lived. She, Kyle, and Jim had formed their own family and she knew how much Tess loved them.

She pulled into the driveway, when Jack found out that she took the truck he wouldn't be too happy with her but he'd forgive her. Liz stamped out the cigarette that dangled from her mouth and blew out the smoke. Yea, she promised Mom she'd quit but she hardly drank; compared to the guys in the crew she barely had sex…she needed some kind of vice to get through what she saw every night.

If she wanted to be honest with herself she started smoking because she didn't think she'd live long enough to get cancer. Hell the Goons they fried usually in multiple numbers caused more damage to her lungs then a cigarette did.

She stepped out of the truck and made her way to the Valenti's front door. Liz took a deep breath and knocked.

It didn't take long for Tess to answer the door. "Hey Tess." Liz sheepishly smiled. "I think I owe you a couple apologies."

Tess nodded. "Yea I'd agree with that." She crossed her arms. "Honestly I didn't expect you so soon."

"How come?" Liz put her hands in her pants pocket.

Tess shrugged. "I know this visit to Roswell wasn't a social call." She leaned against the door frame. "You and the crew have some Goons to deal with and I understand that would take precedence over my feelings."

"Yea, getting the Masters and Goons are important. It is the reason I'm here but that didn't give me the right to accuse you of telling Dad about me and Jack. And being friends I consider your feelings more important than the vamps." Liz told her.

Sighing Tess moved aside. "Might as well come in." As childish as it might sound she didn't want to forgive Liz yet. It hurt when she accused her of blabbing a secret to Mr. Parker. She was a master at keeping secrets.

Liz smiled and walked passed her into the Valenti living room. The front room was clean and had feminine touches that gave a clear indication who ran the home. When Liz dated Kyle she tried to get him to at least pick up his clothes from the living room. It was then he informed her that most of them were Jim's.

Now when she walked in the couch was visible, free from clutter and clothes. The remotes were put in the proper container and the windows looked like they had been cleaned fairly recently. "The boys don't chip into help at all do they?" Liz asked.

"Not one little bit. Most of the time they'll lift their feet if I'm going under them with a vacuum or if I'm cleaning off the coffee table but that's about it." Tess confirmed. "I'm sure you have the same problem with Jack and the crew."

Liz shook her head. "Not really. Usually we stay in motels, the guys trash it…somewhat and then we leave. Cleaning up after them is not in my job description." She sat down on the couch and Tess took the reclining chair next to her.

Liz hated the awkwardness that had developed between her and Tess over the last hour. She knew she hurt her friend and there was no excuse for it.

"So…can I get you anything to drink?" Tess offered.

"No thanks." Liz looked Tess directly in the eyes. "I'm sorry that I blamed you for telling Dad. It was out of line and I should have known that you wouldn't have told him…on purpose or by accident."

"It's ok." Tess tried to brush it off.

"No it's not. You've been one of my best friends for the past six months. Hell, you're the only girl friend I've got. Your friendship means more to me than you can possibly know and I almost ruined that." Liz admitted.

Tess smiled and relaxed a bit. "I know what you mean. When I first came to town I figured that Isabel and I would be inseparable. We had so much in common, with being aliens, and her being the Princess, me the Queen. But it didn't work out that way. Isabel was more interested in finding out who we were then to really get to know me."

"Yea that can't be fun." Liz sympathized.

"You, Alex, Kyle, and Jim are the first people who looked past who Nasedo was trying to get me to be and see who I really was. Not the Queen, not Nasedo's pet project, not the bitch, or Max's stalker…"

Liz laughed at Tess description of herself. "Oh sweetie you weren't that bad."

"Yes I was. I followed him around like a puppy. Meanwhile you kept trying to push him away toward me and he was slobbering all over you." Tess pointed out.

Her brunette friend shrugged. "Maybe that's just in Antarians genes." She teased.

"Oh you…" Tess grabbed a small square pillow that was behind her back and hit Liz on the arm with it.

"Ya gotta admit you following Max, Max following me. It makes one wonder." Liz fell over on the couch and laughed till it hurt.

Tess threw the pillow at her one more time and she caught it in her hands. "Ok, so what happened after I left?"

"There's another Michael." Liz smirked.

"Another Michael? That doesn't make sense, unless it's the other set." Tess stated.

"Other set?"

Tess nodded. "There are another set that Nasedo told me about but they're in New York. So there are doubles of Max, Isabel, Michael and me walking around out."

"Wow, okay, so there's a third Michael out there." Liz told Tess everything that happened with Nick, Sean, the crew and the Goons. She also mentioned the different kind of vampires that Nick said were out in the world.

"That is weird. God with how much we know about various things can you imagine how many things we don't know about." Tess leaned back in the chair.

The two continued to talk for the next thirty minutes when Liz's phone rang. "Hello…yes…" Liz glanced at her watch. "Ok I'll be there in twenty minutes." She hung up the phone. "That was Lance; the group has reached a decision. Do you want to come to Crashdown with me?"

Tess grabbed her boots and slipped them on. "Yea. I'll call Jim when I get there and let him know." The duo left the Valenti's home and began to head toward the Crashdown in Jack's truck.

TBC


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

It didn't take long for the two girls to drive back to the Crashdown. They entered in the back and passed through the swinging door. Instantly Liz took notice of the sheepish stares of Jack and her father.

She placed one hand on her hip and sent both grown men a glare. "What happened?"

Nancy exited the back room and stood next to Liz and Tess. "Your father punched Jack the second you left. They just cleaned up the mess they made." She revealed.

Jeff started to open his mouth but Nancy gave him a glare that shut him up good. Alex stood up and played ring leader laying everything out. "Well Jack and his crew explained things from their angle, Nick and Sean explained things from their angle. You're both hunting vampires, although they are different kinds of vampires they are still vamps. You both think your vamps are here in Roswell, Liz, you and the crew have already taken out two houses of Goons. While Nick and Sean got nada."

Liz nodded, glanced over to Nick and caught his gaze but he quickly looked away. Had he been staring at her? Or was he embarrassed that he didn't get any vampires…either of his kind or of hers? "Great, so what's the plan?"

"While you and the crew were out this morning I looked up possible shelters of where these things are shacking up." Alex pulled out a piece of folded paper from his back pocket. "All these places are abandoned and four bodies have been found within a mile of each house."

Jack nodded. "We know there are a lot more people that have been reported missing. Out of the two dozen people only four were found dumped in the desert."

"One of the bodies found…was Pam Troy." Kyle spoke up.

"They ID'd her already?" Tess questioned.

"Already?" Liz asked confused.

"She was only just reported missing. No more than two days ago. And her body was found around lunch time today." Alex explained.

"She was a food source." Jack simply stated.

Alex stayed silent for a moment before he cleared his throat and continued with the plan they'd thought up earlier. "Now there is still the possibility that it's not only Goons and Masters snatching these people. It could also be Forsaken."

"So, while you and Tess were gone Alex searched the Internet for hallowed grounds around the abandoned houses he found." Nick said shoving his hand in his front pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

Liz took the paper from his hand and searched over the list. "Ok, I know where most of these are. They're fairly close to where we'll be." Before she could ask any more questions about the plan Tess spoke up.

"I'm going too." She saw Liz shake her head negatively but before she had a chance to speak she jumped in. "My abilities aren't just mind warping. You know that better than anyone."

"Tess!" Isabel shouted at her. She still didn't know that the crew knew about them. She probably should have warned the former Princess but there wasn't time.

"They know. It's ok." Tess assured Isabel but she realized she'd have to talk to her later and make it ok.

Liz brought Tess's attention back to her. "That power weakens you a lot Tess. Are you sure you want to do this?"

She didn't even think it over she only nodded in affirmation. "I'll help in any way I can, if you're risking your life the least I can do is make sure you come back."

Isabel put her hand out in a stopping motion. "Wait, wait. Everyone here knows about the secret? Why? How?" That many people…it wasn't a secret anymore. Isabel breathed in deeply trying to keep the room from spinning. Too many people knew.

Kyle gently guided Isabel to a booth. "Breathe Princess. Just take slow deep breaths in and out." He saw her glare of irritation but motioned for her to do as he said anyway.

"Why do I get the feeling we're out of the loop again?" Sean questioned. Nick nodded in agreement but didn't say anything. The two watched the scene unfold.

"Tess how could you tell them…"

"Whoa." Liz interrupted Isabel and stepped between the two blondes, protecting Tess from Isabel. "She didn't tell them. I did." She wasn't about to let Isabel blame Tess for something she didn't do. That had happened one too many times that day.

"You?" Isabel glared.

"Yes." If Isabel wanted to yell and scream at someone she could do it at her, the person who told.

"You can't keep your mouth shut can you?" Isabel hissed. "First you told Maria, then Alex. Now you tell your [i]_crew[/i]_. Whose next? Your parents? The school? The President? The Special Unit? This is not your secret to tell yet you have no problem telling everyone."

"Well my parents already know." Liz knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say.

Isabel's jaw dropped. "Of course they do." She spat. "You never can seem to keep your big mouth shut." Then she looked at the others, Kyle, Alex, and Tess. "And you three knew she told them didn't you?"

"Yes. Her parents she told before she left, with what her father use to do she knew he and her mother wouldn't tell anybody." Tess explained. "While Liz and I wrote back and forth she told me. Let me know why and I supported her decision."

"It had to have bothered you." Isabel stated. "You didn't even tell Max, Michael, or I who you were until Max dragged you to the desert. There is no way you would have been perfectly fine with Liz blabbing secrets."

"I wasn't. At first." Tess admitted. "But I soon came to realize that Liz has not once told someone that couldn't accept it. Jeff and Nancy welcomed me with open arms after I read Liz's letter and let them know I knew they were told about me. Neither one of them have ever made me feel like an alien. They showed me by actions and words that if I needed anything they wouldn't turn me away. I'd never had that before." She revealed.

The Ice Princess shook her head in disbelief. She understood what it was like to want complete acceptance from family and friends, but why did Liz have to tell everyone? "And the others?" She pointed to Jack and his team.

"The others Liz asked me before letting them in on the secret. She explained the situation, told me about her hunting Goons and the like."

Liz interrupted Tess when she took a breath. "And I only told them about Tess. You, Max, and Michael were never mentioned in terms of being like her."

"Wait—you never? Not once told them about the others and me?"

"No. They know there are others like Tess but I never told them who exactly." The brunette shrugged.

"Why did you tell them anything anyway? And why didn't you tell them about the rest of us?" Isabel questioned a little calmer.

Liz sat down across from Isabel at the table. "I never told them about Max, Michael, or you because I couldn't ask you. None of you were speaking to me and it's unlikely even if you were you'd want me to tell your involvement…or even mine. The whole reason I told them was because a couple weeks after I joined Jack and his crew, I started getting green lightning bolts flashing across my skin. Since it was happening so often and I didn't know when it would spring up I didn't want them to freak and turn on me."

Tess took the spot next to both Isabel and Liz. "So she called me told me what was happening. She was going to tell them about herself anyway but she wanted to know if she could tell them about me too. It made me nervous and scared but eventually I said yes."

"Just like that you said yes?" Isabel asked skeptically. Would Tess lie to take some of the blame off Liz's shoulders? No way had she said yes so quickly.

"No. It took me a month to make up my mind."

"She was making us dizzy with the constant pacing she was doing." Alex revealed.

"And the constant going back and forth. Normally Tess is quiet when figuring something out, she works it out by herself and in her own mind but that time she was a nervous wreck."

"Hey, the pacing got out pent up energy." Tess took a sip of her bottled water.

During the conversation between the teens Jeff and Nancy kept the newcomers along with Jack, and his crew busy. What was being said didn't need to be overheard by the masses.

Kyle glanced at the clock behind the counter. Almost three in the afternoon, knowing time was of the essence he stopped the conversation between the three girls. "Listen I know there's a lot of stuff you three need to lay out on the table but right now I think vampires are the most pressing issue."

Alex agreed. "Today we're only checking out the first house on the list. Yes, Kyle and I are going too but only in a looking capacity. If we're lucky there will be Goons to deal with. If Forsaken are setting up shop there you and the crew will defer to Nick and Sean."

"Bet Jack isn't too thrilled with that." Liz murmured. She knew how much Jack despised letting others take the lead unless he specifically appointed them as a temporary leader.

Kyle shook his head negatively. "He really isn't."

Liz stood up from her seat and nodded. "We'll finish talking later." She promised Isabel. Leaving her group of friends she went over to the crew to talk more in detail about what would be happening that afternoon. If they wanted to get Goons everyone would have to leave soon. Waiting too long was not a good idea.

TBC


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Still a few hours away from sundown Liz lay flat on the dusty ground behind a few thick bushes with Nick by her side getting as equally dusty as she was. She hated going out twice in a day doing anything Goon related. It made her nervous being out closer to sunset, killing Goons wasn't impossible in twilight but it took more work.

Through her binoculars she watched the back of the shit hole they were camped outside of. While gone with the team that morning Alex had found two more rundown homes that could be filled with Goons and Masters. When she went to smooth things over with Tess, Alex let everyone else know what he found.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the house in front of her was definitely sheltering some kind of creature. There was dried blood on the back door and below a boarded up window on the second floor. She didn't need the pain in her belly to tell her what was clear on the outside of the shabby residence.

In her ear she could hear the scratchy voices of her other teammates, both old and new, from the earpiece. Once the plan had been ironed out Jack split them up into teams of two to four people. Tess, Seth, and Lance in one team on the left side of the house. Sean, Gary and Robert took the right side and Jack and Barry took the front. Father Adam was up on a hill with Kyle, Alex, and Jeff being their extra eyes and ears.

She wished Jack had paired her with someone else, anyone else except Nick. Liz didn't mind his company; in fact he gave her a comforting feeling being next to her. The problem she had was him distracting her.

Now Nick didn't speak to her pulling her attention away from the job unless to request the equipment in front of her eyes or point something he saw out to her. What distracted her was him. His actual presence took her focus away from the task at hand. It didn't help matters any that he didn't seem to be the least bit distracted by her.

Gary spoke quietly into his communicator. "There's some movement in the top window right corner of the home."

Kyle from the top of his post looked through his binoculars. "See it." He confirmed. "Blonde hair looks to be a female from my angle."

"Did she pass in front of the window?" Liz questioned. If she did that meant it wasn't a Goon.

"Still could be a Goon or Master." Jack whispered.

Liz gave a look to Nick, clearly questioning what Jack said. "How?" Goons got burned severely if they walked into any sunlight.

"They like the pain. I'll tell you a story sometime." He explained.

She handed Nick the binoculars, it was his turn to watch the house. Once he took them she twisted around slowly and rested on her back allowing the hot New Mexico sun to beat down on her. She'd never take the sunlight for granted. Everyday that she was able to bask in the glory of that warm ball of energy she was thankful.

Twice she came close to losing the privilege and it frightened her. How she used to stare up at the stars at night was how she looked at the bright blue sky now. She adjusted her sunglasses and intertwined her fingers together on her stomach.

She was covered with dust and dirt from the ground on her front and back but she didn't care. Most of her time now was spent with some kind of substance on her clothes; dust and grime were the least of her worries.

Gently she probed her stomach with her fingers. The cramping hadn't gone down any; there were definitely Goons in that house.

Off to the side she heard Nick moving around, out of the corner of her eye she saw him look at her briefly before returning his attention to the house. "What?" She asked after turning off her microphone but not her ear piece.

Nick did the same before answering her. "What, what?"

Sighing Liz moved to her side so she could look at him closely. "Ok, so we're playing this game." She glanced toward the house then back to Nick who had yet to take his eyes off their target. "There something you want to say or ask? Because usually someone trying to look this innocent isn't really that innocent."

"You were bit." His gaze left the house to look at the side of her neck that was not hidden to him.

"Yea." She too got a good view of his bite mark that was pale and glaringly obvious against his tanned skin. "Don't tell me the guy that also was bit by a creature of the night is nervous around me?"

"No." He told her plainly. "When was it?"

"The first time—"

"Wait, first time? You were bitten more than once?" How was she still alive? Were Goon bites different than Forsaken?

"Twice actually. Once was a short while before I joined the Church and Jack's team. The other a few weeks ago." Liz shrugged.

"Why didn't you turn?" Nick asked. Clearly she was out in sunlight and it was obvious Goons and Master's couldn't go out in sunlight without becoming fried.

Liz hesitated in telling him. She wouldn't tell him about aliens, not unless Tess and Isabel gave her the ok. Which on Isabel's part probably would never happen. Although the once alien princess wanted certain people to know, her parent's for one, she didn't want everyone they ever met to know her closely guarded secret.

"Umm, that's complicated. Let's just say some anomaly in my blood didn't allow me to be changed like them."

Over the speaker Nick and Liz heard Jack's voice. "Ok, everyone meet in the front. We're suiting up and going in."

Liz smirked. "Showtime." She and Nick kept low and out of sight as best as possible. Without a bunch of shrubbery to hide behind it was a challenge.

When everyone arrived Jack laid out the game plan. "Here's what we're going to do. Alex, Kyle, Jeff stay out here with the truck. You'll be dragging the Goons out when we say so." He knew they wanted to be apart of the action, especially Jeff, but either didn't have the training or were so out of practice it'd be dangerous to go in the house with the rest of them.

"The rest of us are going in." Having already shown Nick and Sean the various weaponry and how to use them back at the Crashdown Jack didn't feel worried in letting them use the specially designed guns and crossbows. "How many we got in there Liz?"

"If they're all Goons, ten to twelve. If a Master is in there no more than five Goons and a Master." Master's gave off two to three times the power that a single Goon did.

"How do you know that?" Sean questioned. There had only been one for sure Goon sighting since they'd been there.

Liz smiled. "I have finely tuned Goon-dar." Before they started suiting up she asked Tess. "Are you sure? You can still wait out here with the others."

"I want to do this." Tess stood firmly.

Liz tilted her head in agreement. "Then do me a favor, stick close to me or Jack."

"Is she coming with us?" Sean pointed to Tess.

Tess glared at him. "It's not polite to point and yes I'm going in."

"Why? Have you hunted vampires before?" He sounded skeptical but could anyone really blame him? Tess looked like a pixie, someone who couldn't go one round with a fruit fly.

Tess placed her hands on her hips and stalked up to Sean. "Once, not on purpose mind you but it doesn't change the fact that I came face to face with a Goon, at night no less and lived to tell the tale while the Goon didn't. So don't you dare look down your nose at me. Which brings me to what I need to tell you and Nick so you're not shocked in there and end up getting killed."

"What's that?" Nick asked trying to get his buddy out of her line of fire.

Tess stopped her body from breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly. She didn't want to show any weakness in front of Sean and she didn't. Tess stared the guy's right in the eye and said in strong voice, "I'm an alien."

TBC


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 **

"Alien?" Sean stared at her in shock for a few moments before chuckling. His whole body was shaking as he tried to keep his laughs quiet. "Alien. Sure, if you expect me to believe that you've got another thing coming."

Tess crossed her arms and glared at Sean. Nick, standing to the right of Sean, was biting his lower lip to keep from bursting out laughing although it was difficult.

"Is this some joke you play on tourists or something?" Nick asked.

"Come on Nick it has to be." Sean said. Tess being an alien could not be real. "If she's an alien then I'm Elvis."

"Might I suggest breaking out into an Elvis hit and shaking your hips in the next couple minutes?" Liz suggested. She expected that kind of reaction but they were in for a huge shock when they came to realize Tess was telling the truth.

"Oh please. Very funny. Ha, ha. Now if we can get back to the task at hand?" Nick started to walk forward toward the van but Liz gently pushed him back next to Sean.

"She's telling the truth." Liz told them.

"Yea, sure. She's an alien. Don't we have more important things to do than play pranks?" Nick glared down at her finding the joke less funny than he had moments ago.

"Do you see anyone else here laughing?" Tess asked. "No you don't. You know why? They know I'm an alien."

"Ok fine, we'll play along. Can you show us something alien?" Sean shrugged. If they were going to deal with Goons and the like it'd be better to play along.

Tess searched for something to show them. "Ok." She walked over the car and placed a single finger on the hood. "This truck is dark green." Barely exerting any power she changed the paint job. "And now it's hot pink."

"Ah man Tess. That's just wrong changing a man's paint color." Lance whined.

"I'll change it back Lance-a-lot. Geez. I'm only proving my point." In an instant the paint job returned to its normal dark green shade.

Lance leaned down and kissed the truck. "Oh thank God."

Sean's jaw dropped. "A—you—how?" He couldn't talk normally.

"Ok, I've seen some freaky shit since hunting Forsaken but this—that—," Nick couldn't finish his sentence.

"That was not human." Tess finished for him. She hated being looked at in that fish-out-of-water way. Like the people she told couldn't catch their breath.

Kyle, protective of Tess, stepped up to the two guys. "Listen, you're surprised I get it. But right now you need to get over it. Sunset is in three hours and we need all the time we can get to take care of these things." He pointed to the beaten down house.

Nick ran a hand over his face and scrubbed both hands through his short hair. "Yea." Swallowing hard and straightening his spine he nodded. "Ok, let's get this over with."

Sean, who still couldn't talk yet, only shook his head in agreement. In five minutes everyone who was going in got suited up except for Jack and Liz.

Nick questioned their lack of protection. "How come you two aren't wearing the neck guards and all this stuff?"

"I never wear that shit." Jack tossed his still burning cigarette in road and rested the butt of his specially made gun against his hip.

"And me—after being bit twice and knowing their bites don't change me into them it seems kind of pointless to wear it." Liz explained.

Jack faced the team and told them the game plan. "All right Liz said there are probably ten to twelve Goons in there. There could be a Master there too. After all those fuck heads are rarely far away from their minions. We go in clean, do what we always do. Those in team one will take the upstairs, while team two will take the first level. If there is a basement both teams, after checking out their designated areas, will go down to the final level as one. Clear?"

Everyone nodded and then Liz stepped up near Jack. "Ok team one will be Jack, myself, Tess, Sean, and Gary. Team two will be Father Adam, Lance, Barry, Robert, Nick, and Seth. And of course Alex, Kyle, and Dad you'll be out here ready to drag those suckers out."

"Let's do our job." Jack turned and began to walk strong and steady toward the house. Behind him was his team both trusted and not trusted. The two newcomers he didn't trust at all. He only trusted his team, the team that had been behind him for the last year. Jack couldn't even say with certainty if he trusted his former teammate Jeff. There were too many years between them to go back to trusting him right away.

Liz, with a large stake strapped to her hip, followed closely behind Jack and positioned herself one side of the door way in the small area of siding between a window and the front door. Jack nodded to Robert and he moved forward. Robert placed a device against the door, underneath the knob and pumped the tool, it sounded like a blood pressure band. With only a few squeezes he was able to cut a perfect hole. He pulled hard and a piece of wood broke away leaving behind a circle big enough to put a hand or a gun through.

Jack motioned Robert back from the door and crouched down near the opening. He took off his shades and put them in his pocket. For a few seconds he searched as much of the room as he could through that hole, then as fast as he could he put his hand through and unlocked the door.

Jack stood back up and nodded to Liz. Nodding back she touched the door handle and twisted it. With just the right amount of force she pushed open the door. It swung to the other side stopping against a door stop on the floor.

She raised her specially made gun, which shot stakes instead of bullets, and pointed it to the right, while Jack raised his and pointed it to the left. Neither expected a Goon to pop out right there, since the sun was beaming in all violent and deadly but trouble happened when they least expected it. As that morning would attest too.

Jack and Liz signaled each other, letting the other know their side was clear. Jack made the first move and stepped inside the house. Lance followed close behind Jack while Liz stayed stationed at the door. One by one the team entered with Tess as the second to last. Liz went in after her making sure to keep her friend close by.

Like a well oiled machine the two teams split off. Liz kept an eye on her surroundings making sure to check side to side and behind her. She trusted the team she had in front of her; she knew they'd keep that section covered.

Jack motioned toward a closet door. Sean raised the stake gun Jack gave him and nodded signaling his readiness. Gary stood in front of the door, his weapon ready. They didn't get the chance to open the door. A Goon burst out through the closed door; wood flew everywhere, and it jumped on Gary. Jack kicked the thing hard in its gut. It fell off Gary and snarled at the leader.

Jack, without skipping a beat, rammed a huge wooden stake into its black heart. Liz spoke into her walkie-talkie, "Now, now." She yelled quickly.

Within seconds the Goon staked was pulled violently backward down the stairs and out the front door. Two more Goons shot out of the bedroom to the left, one punched Liz hard in the face. She went down but managed to kick the one focusing on her in the stomach pushing it away from her.

Tess whirled quickly and closed her eyes concentrating hard on the image of fire. Faster than Liz would have expected the Goon in front of her caught ablaze. It danced around the room in pain, fire engulfed the creature.

Burning flesh and the stench of the Goon flooded the hunter's senses. Unaware of where it was going it tossed its body outside in the deadly sun, even from the second floor she could hear the sizzling of its body.

Tess wobbled a bit but Liz steadied her as she rose from the floor. "Are you ok?"

She breathed in deeply. "I'll be all right." Tess assured her friend.

The second Goon during the frying of the other one had been decapitated by Gary. Sean was busy staring at the empty hole leading outside, and then he stared at Tess for a moment. "Wow."

"You have no idea." Tess smirked.

For fifteen more minutes her team and the team down on the first level took care of the Goons. Then when they were all back together on the first level Jack turned to Liz. "Feel anything else?"

Breathing heavily she took a moment to even her heartbeat and the powerful heaves of oxygen from her tired body. With her breathing under control she concentrated. "No nothing. The house is clear."

"Dammit." Jack swore. "No Master."

"We'll find a Master. There is no way all these Goons just happened to show up in Roswell with a plan of their own. There is always a Master pulling the strings." Liz reminded him. "He wasn't here but maybe he's in the other place."

Jack looked outside. The sun was setting; they wouldn't be able to check out the other place yet. It was time to go. "We'll start out no later than nine tomorrow." He checked his watch. "Come on, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm starving."

"Yea I could go for some grub." Lance smiled patting Gary on the back. "Let's get out of here."

The group went outside, gathered the skulls in a bag, tossed them in the back of the weapons vehicle, and then took off back toward the Crashdown. On the way Liz rode with Nick, Sean and Tess in the Charger. "So, you guys did pretty good." She complimented.

"Did you doubt we'd do a good job?" Nick questioned not sure whether to be amused or irritated.

Liz shrugged. "A bit. After all you were thrown into a situation you'd never been in before." She was about to go on but Nick interrupted her.

"Hold it; we've been in situations like this before. We've been hunting Forsaken and even fought one winning I might add."

"Ok, you've been in similar situations but you've never dealt with Goons. Or seeing Tess in action…" She turned to her friend sitting next to Sean in the backseat. "Which by the way. Completely awesome with the fire back there. Have you been practicing?"

Tess smiled. The last time she showed Liz that power it took almost two minutes to catch something on fire. However in the house it took her less than ten seconds.

"A whole lot of practicing. That's the fastest I've done it though. Normally it takes at least thirty seconds now."

Sean shrugged. "Maybe because of the adrenaline going through your system you were able to hone it easier and therefore set that sucker ablaze." He explained.

Tess watched him for a moment. "You really liked that huh?"

"What can I say? It was hot." He teased.

Tess laughed warmly and turned away before the blush could be seen on her face. Once she got the pleased grin under control she turned back to him only to find he was still looking at her. She was use to getting attention from men but this felt different. He knew that she was an alien and yet that hadn't swayed his interest. Max had shown interest in her after learning of her origins but he didn't count because he too was an alien.

Meanwhile up front Liz was busy staring into the side mirror poking at her bruised face. "Are you going to be alright?"

Liz nodded sitting back away from the mirror. "I'll heal soon, it's just sore." She told him. "How's your arm?"

The lightly bleeding wound didn't look horrible but it was still something to be concerned about. "It'll heal." He smirked using her line. "That Goon really threw me hard. I didn't think they'd be that quick." He admitted.

"Yea, they are surprising spry. It can be hard to shake 'em. Especially when those little fuckers jump on your back, they get on your back and you're lucky if they don't bite you." Liz shivered for effect. "Are you and Sean planning on coming with us tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Despite the quickness of those things there's a rush that surged through me while fighting. With Forsaken normally we're running the other way because the only way to kill them is on hallowed ground, plus they've got strength and power that these Goons don't have…at least not to the extent of Forsaken."

Sighing Liz told Nick a thought she'd been mulling around in her head for a while now. "I don't know if you're going to find the Forsaken here."

Nick coughed nervously before nodding. "I think you're right. All these missing people it's too much for it to be a Forsaken. Usually Forsaken only take three or four with them. Usually one day driver, at least one Feeder, although once I heard of two Feeders with a Forsaken. Then almost always the Forsaken have one long time companion with them."

"But with these there are many missing. Last report said eleven missing and four dead."

"Exactly. Any Forsaken would be insanely stupid to make that many Feeders. They would be very hard to control if not impossible." Nick explained.

Liz noted that he glanced at the dashboard clock and began to rummage through the Charger glove box. "Anything I can help you find?"

"Nah," He continued to root around until he found was he was looking for. To be honest he had already found his pill bottle he just liked being that close to her.

During their attack on the nest he had been worried about her. Logically he knew she could handle herself, she clearly had been long before he met her. However despite that it didn't stop his heart from stopping when he heard Tess, from upstairs, shout Liz's name in terror. A minute later he heard Liz's voice shout out orders to one of her teammates and his heart continued beating again.

"Got it." He pulled out his pill bottle filled with his cocktail pills that kept his change at bay.

Liz motioned toward the pills with her chin. "What are those?"

"These are what keep me from turning into a feeder. I was bit by some chick at a party. They can hold off the change for a few years but eventually if I don't find the Forsaken that bit her, I will turn into one." Nick explained.

Liz nodded but didn't say anything. She wondered how long ago he'd been bitten and would he ever find the Forsaken and what if he didn't? Liz knew that if Jack found out he had been bitten and could change he'd kill him. The only reason Jack never killed her when he figured out she'd been bitten was because it was made clear that she wasn't going to change.

If she wanted keep Nick from changing and start killing people she'd have to kill him. How could she do that though? She had never killed a person; she always waited till they turned. If Jack found out there would be no way he'd let Nick live, unless she convinced Jack that she'd go with Nick and if he did change she'd be right there to stop him. It might be the only way.

"How long have you been taking the pills?" Liz asked.

"Nearly two years." Nick reluctantly told her.

Again Liz nodded. Yea, she'd definitely be leaving with him when this Goon problem was solved.

Once they pulled up in front of the Crashdown Liz exited the car and pulled the passenger seat up so Sean and Tess could get of the backseat. Then the other two vehicles pulled up behind the Charger. Gary slapped Lance on the back of the head and laughed as Lance punched him in the arm. "Asshole." Lance growled smoothing his hair back down.

"Dick." Gary launched back.

"Well it's nice to know you two haven't changed a bit while I was in the other car." Liz teased from beside the Charger.

"Oh come on Liz. Lance is so easy to pick on." Gary chuckled barely dodging a second punch from Lance.

Shaking her head Liz shut the car door after Tess and Sean got out. She hurried up to Kyle and Alex and nudged them. "Did you two have fun today?"

"I know why you love it so much." Kyle said with joy. "Alex and I were only on the outside but pulling those Goons out and watching them spark and burn and disintegrate…wow. I got a charge out of that and I wasn't even physically fighting them."

"It's a rush." Liz agreed.

The two laughed when Alex shook his head in disagreement. "It was interesting. I don't think I'll go on the next hunt with you though. Far to stimulating for me."

Liz wrapped her arm around his waist. "That's ok Alex. Hunting and fighting Goons is not for everyone."

As the massive group entered the Crashdown they skidded to a halt. "Mom." Liz whispered. Jack drew his gun, along with Nick, Sean, and Barry.

Jeff pushed forward and moved to stand slightly in front of Liz. "Nancy are you ok?" He asked his frightened wife. She whimpered when the hand around her throat tightened.

"Oh she's just fine Jeff, at least for now." The pale woman holding Nancy by the throat snickered joyfully.

TBC


End file.
